Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Shining' arrived in theaters 40 years ago today. Though it's widely considered one of the best movies made from King's work, the best-selling author himself isn't a fan.
In 1983, Stephen King told Playboy, “I’d admired Kubrick for a long time and had great expectations for ['The Shining'], but I was deeply disappointed in the end result. Parts of the film are chilling, charged with a relentlessly claustrophobic terror, but others fell flat.”
King also thought that Jack Nicholson was wrong for the role of Jack Torrance. "His last big role had been in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and between that and the manic grin, the audience automatically identified him as a loony from the first scene," King said."
It probably didn't help matters that King wrote an entire draft of a script for 'The Shining' which Kubrick—who once described King’s writing as “weak”—reportedly didn’t even glance at.
Speaking of writing: Some people believe that Kubrick actually typed up all 500 pages of those “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” pages himself.
Danny Lloyd, the young actor who played Danny Torrance, was just 5 years old when he shot 'The Shining'—and had no idea he was making a horror movie. In order to protect Lloyd, Kubrick told him they were filming a drama.
Danny Lloyd didn't even watch 'The Shining' until he was 16 years old. “I just personally don’t find it scary because I saw it behind the scenes," Lloyd later said. "I know it might be kind of ironic, but I like funny films and documentaries.”
Though Danny Lloyd showed lots of promise as a young actor, 'The Shining' ended up being the only feature film he ever made.
He did, however, have a brief cameo in 'Doctor Sleep,' Mike Flanagan's 2019 sequel to 'The Shining.'
He did, however, have a brief cameo in 'Doctor Sleep,' Mike Flanagan's 2019 sequel to 'The Shining.'
The most quotable (and most quoted) line from 'The Shining'—"Heeeere's Johnny"— was not written into the script. While filming the scene in which Jack breaks down a bathroom door with an ax, Jack Nicholson instinctively shouted the line out. It worked, so it stayed in the film.
