20 Things You Didn't Know About The Shining

16. There Was No Snow In The Final Scene, Just Salt

Jack Nicholson The Shining
Warner Bros.

If you thought the closing line for that previous entry was salty, then you don't know the meaning of the word. But you know who does? The cast and crew of The Shining after filming the climax of the movie.

The climax of the movie called for a LOT more snow than what mother nature was willing to offer Kubrick. To compensate for this, Kubrick filled the hedge maze wherein the climax took place with approximately 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam.

With this in mind, it makes the climax of the film kind of hilarious when you know that - instead of snow - that hedge maze is filled with more salt than your average YouTube reviewer talking about a popular movie or TV show. Granted, being knee deep in that much salt for that long can't be good for you, so Jack dying still scans, but one must wonder how long it took them to clean it all up after shooting was completed. Or is there just a huge mound of salt and Styrofoam somewhere in the Oregon countryside?

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?