8 Famous Movie Scenes You Didn't Know Were Stupidly Hard To Film

This entire list could have been made up of Stanley Kubrick anecdotes. The director never met an actor he didn't want to torture with tedious and incessant re-takes. The lucky subject his never-ending sadism this time around was Scatman Crothers, who played telepathic chef Dick Hallorann in The Shining.

Before we even mention the specifics of Kubrick's mental abuse toward Crothers, it should be noted there was a total of 1.3 million feet of film used to make this movie. That's roughly 400 kilometers, which means the unedited cut of The Shining could have stretched from Boston to New York City.

Part of the reason for that heinous amount of raw footage is that Stanley Kubrick really had a hard-on for Crothers, who fell further from the director's good graces every time he flubbed a part of his famous "shining" speech. To be fair, that scene is perhaps the single most integral monologue in the entire movie, so one could understand Kubrick's desire for absolute perfection.

Unfortunately, Crothers perpetually seemed 10 or so takes away from whatever Kubrick's vision was. It was a vision Kubrick had difficulty articulating to the actor, which meant Crothers was never quite sure exactly what he should be doing. It was a confusing, debilitating cycle that eventually made Crothers break down into sobs between takes. All in all, the speech required almost 150 takes until Kubrick "graciously" acquiesced and let his actor off the hook.

According to Kubrick, this is simply what happens "when actors are unprepared" and "have to think about the words...so you just shoot it and shoot it and hope you can get something out in pieces." You know, like their psyche.