Thread by @shelleyduvallxo

[THREAD 🧵] It seems to be of popular internet belief that Shelley Duvall was traumatized for life because of Stanley Kubrick/The Shining. Here’s a thread, by me a Shelley connoisseur, explaining why her life and career was NOT ruined.

Shelley was intentionally cast by Kubrick because he liked her performance in 3 Women, 1977. He was drawn to the way she cried – and crying surely came in handy for Shining. He sent Shelley King’s book to read first as he didn’t have a script yet.

Shelley is a professional actress (with nearly 10 years under her belt at the start of filming) and she knew what she was signing up for, which was a horror movie. It’s not like she was thrown into it and she was excited to work with Kubrick.

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Shelley first met Kubrick in October 1977 at the old Grosvenor Hotel a few months after she was cast in The Shining (May 1977). She describes liking him even upon the first meeting.

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“I liked his [Kubrick] humor. I felt very good the first week of shooting. I wasn’t nervous at all. I was just excited about the beginning of the film.” (Shelley Duvall in a 1979 interview with Leon Vitali – my notes from my Kubrick Archives visit)

To admit, The Shining was stressful on Shelley and several stressor did contribute to her being ill on set. Filming in London took 13 months, she was away from home, and her boyfriend Paul Simon broke up with her at the airport as she was departing for this role of a lifetime. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

This was acknowledged in Vivian Kubrick’s documentary “The Making of The Shining” as seen in the previous video and Shelley has discussed this grueling filming process many times. But that’s not say that “The Shining ruined her mind” 🙄

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Shelley Duvall has continuously praised Kubrick and values his lessons. That’s a true actress right there – respecting someone’s craft and learning from it. It’s condescending when people claim that he ruined her when in reality she speaks very highly of him. 👏🏻 (2001 interview)

“What an experience. I learned so much from that man [Kubrick]. I tend to sound like a fool when I talk about him, but I was so impressed” (LA Times, May 1979)

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Shelley has acknowledged that their differences was a way to improve her performance (which is seen in Vivian Kubrick’s doc 🎥). And to be fair Shelley adequately defends herself from Kubrick here. It’s not like she was withering at the sight of him.

“If it hadn’t been for the volley of ideas and butting heads together it wouldn’t have come out as good as it did. At the end of the day we knew that it was for the purpose of enhancing the performance. There were no grudges.” (Shelley in a 1979 interview with Leon Vitali)

Despite how grueling the set was and filming six days a week and up to 16 hour days, Shelley & the cast/crew still found moments to be intimate and playful with each other. Shelley particularly loved playing chess with Kubrick.

In a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Shelley Duvall said Kubrick “was very warm and friendly to me. He spent a lot of time with Jack and me. He just wanted to sit down and talk for hours while the crew waited.”

Since Shining was released, the claim the staircase scene was filmed 127 times has been tossed around and even Shelley has mentioned this number in interviews from the 80s. This fact is often used to argue that she was pushed to the breaking point destroying her.

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Recently, this number has been debunked by Lee Unkrich’s new book on The Shining. It’s hard to know for certain the amount of takes, but Shelley still took it in stride. The Shining was tough, BUT Shelley was tougher.
(Screenshots from 2 of Lee’s interviews about the book) ⚾️

Importantly, Shelley’s previous work was mostly with Robert Altman who was famous for very few takes, which would often be adlibbed by his actors. Shelley wasn’t accustomed to Kubrick’s obsessive takes and perfection. Before him, the most takes she had to do was ≈ 15.

People often claim that Shelley’s life after Shining was never the same and she was traumatized for life, but it’s dismissive and infantilizing to think that from ONE movie and this is what irks me the most. We need more appreciation of her career post-Shining. 🥰💗

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Shelley had a prolific career as a producer in the 80s/90s with her award-winning series Faerie Tale Theatre, she had her own production company specializing in children’s TV, and still used her acting chops in movies like Popeye, Time Bandits, Portrait of a Lady, among others.

I’ve always hated the framing of Shelley’s life around Shining as if she’s only a victim because all the “arm chair investigators” and film bros don’t realize that one can just get old and simply retire! Shelley’s early departure ≠ her experience on set of a movie from 1980.

Shelley unfortunately has struggles with her mental health, but that has nothing to do with Shining. In all my very recent conversations with her, she still speaks highly of Shining and how she loved Kubrick. She still holds NO grudges. ❤️‍🩹

(Me and Shelley 2022-2023)

I think this is why misinfo about her experience on set is still rampant. People see her public battles with mental illness and Shelley simply aging and suddenly people think it’s connected to Shining because they were led to think that way from internet rumors.

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In conclusion, if you’re reading this and your only exposure to Shelley Duvall IS from Shining, you must see her work with Robert Altman, her trailblazing cable shows, and appreciate her contributions to TV and film. She is so extraordinary and I don’t people to miss out 💫

If you’ve reached the end of this thread THANK YOU!!!! 👋🏻 I’m just here to appreciate all things Shelley. And I recently launched a new sticker for sale on my Etsy with proceeds going straight to Shelley 💌 etsy.com/listing/148167…

To view more of Shelley’s career achievements and highlights please follow my Instagram @shelleyduvallxo which is like a little internet archive of all things SD 🫶🏻 (also seems like I’m going to have to buy more stickers. selling out so fast!!)
instagram.com/shelleyduvallx…

To any editors out there please consider this as a pitch for your publication about “why Shelley Duvall was not destroyed by The Shining” bc I’m tired of this often being the narrative of her life and I want to rewrite it. Message me and I’ll be happy to be a contributor! 👋🏻🔍

Lastly, there’s so much I can say on this topic, BUT for more Shelley discourse please check out and listen to my friend @crumblylemon’s podcast TEXAS TWIGGY which beautifully chronicles Shelley from all facets of her life 💛 open.spotify.com/show/3ErBbDPkf…