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The Shining (1980)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel and stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers. The film presents the descent into insanity of a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist who takes a job as winter caretaker for a mountain resort hotel with his…
Directed by Stanley Kubrick · Shot by John Alcott · Cut by Ray Lovejoy · Music by Wendy Carlos · 119 min
How it was made
- The Overlook Hotel set built at EMI Elstree Studios was, at the time, the largest ever constructed at the studio, including a life-size replica of the hotel's exterior facade so Kubrick could shoot in loose chronological order across multiple stages.
- A fire badly damaged the Colorado Lounge set at Elstree in February 1979, delaying an already lengthy production that ran from May 1978 to April 1979.
- To cast Danny, Kubrick sent actor Leon Vitali and his wife to interview a pool of 5,000 boys across Chicago, Denver and Cincinnati over six months, seeking a voice that fell between Jack Nicholson's New Jersey accent and Shelley Duvall's Texas accent; Danny Lloyd was kept unaware he was shooting a horror film.
- The hotel's interior design was modelled on the real Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, while its exterior establishing shots used the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon, a building with no hedge maze in real life.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Stanley Kubrick
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