10 Crazy Production & Development Facts About The Shining

Though it might be completely unlike the novel in so many ways, The Shining is one of the best classic horror movies in cinema history, and the film even boasts it’s own documentary, Room 237, which analyses every tiny detail of suspenseful masterpiece.

Based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is one of the most talked about horror movies ever made. That’s not just because of the movie’s intentional ambiguity, but it’s also for what transpired during every stage of its strange production.

10 Kubrick Had Always Wanted To Make A Horror Movie

Even with it being a Kubrick movie, The Shining was one of the many horror movies that was famously overlooked by the Oscars.

In fact, it was even nominated for a few Razzies, but Kubrick didn’t necessarily care, as he had spent years trying to develop a horror movie. The director was even offered the opportunity to direct The Exorcist, but he turned it down as the studio wouldn’t allow him to produce it.

9 Kubrick Didn’t Even Read King’s Screenplay

The Shining was reportedly just a vessel for Kubrick to do whatever the heck he wanted. Stephen King was kind enough to offer Kubrick his own screenplay adaptation of the novel, but Kubrick didn’t have any interest in reading it, leading many to realize that Kubrick clearly had his own vision for the movie for a long time.

However, that may have served as a hindrance, as there are a lot of necessary scenes from the book that didn’t make it in to the film.

8 Kubrick Secretly Insulted King In The Movie

With all of the changes that Kubrick made to the story, it’s no surprise the the novel’s author hated the adaptation. Nobody likes having their art tampered with, but Kubrick took it one step too far, even going so far as to secretly insult King in the movie.

As Jack Torrance drives a red Volkswagen Beetle in the book, the only time that a red Volkswagen Beetle is seen in the movie is when it’s crushed under a truck close to the end of the film. And many fans believe that is Kubrick sticking his middle finger up at King.

7 The “All Work” Pages

With it being 1980, there were no computers in the Overlook Hotel for Jack to write his magnum opus, so when he typed  up all those pages of the line “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” on the typewriter, somebody from the crew had to tackle that.

There have been many reports that Kubrick did it himself, as it was his very own typewriter, but he was never able to answer that query before he passed away. However, knowing what Kubrick was like, it’s likely that he picked some intern that he didn’t like to do it.

6 Danny Lloyd’s Involvement

Danny Lloyd starred in the movie when he was just 5 years old, and while shooting, he was never told it was a horror movie. Kubrick and crew told him that the movie was a drama. And when shooting wrapped, he wasn’t allowed to watch the movie until he was 16 years old.

Up until the release of the sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, which was released just last year, the horror movie was the only film that Lloyd ever starred in.

5 The “Here’s Johnny” Line

If there’s one thing that The Shining is known for above all else, it’s for one of the most iconic quotes in a horror movie. After Nicholson chopped down the door with the axe in the movie, he famously peers through the hole and says, “Here’s Johnny!”

The line is from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in which the announcer introduces the host that exact way. It was completely improvised on the spot by Nicholson and it has become one of the most memorable scenes of any Kubrick movie.

4 Kubrick Tormented Shelley Duvall

There is footage that can be found online that documents what was going on behind the scenes of some of the most iconic shots. What can be seen in the footage is Kubrick treating Shelley Duvall, who plays Wendy, unfairly compared to how he treats everybody else.

It seemed as if Kubrick was genuinely trying to make her feel crazy just so that she’d act exactly they way he wanted her to, and it’s one of the reasons why she’s the true hero of the movie.

3 The Shining’s Conspiracy Theories

Being one of the most ambiguous movies ever made with so many fragmented scenes, fans have been trying to decode The Shining for decades, and some of the conspiracy theories are more believable than others.

Some theorists believe it was Kubrick’s way of telling America he helped fake the moon landing, and others say that the movie is about the genocide of Native Americans. But all of the theories have been compiled on to Room 237.

2 The Alternative Ending

Unbeknownst to even the biggest fans of the movie, The Shining actually had an alternate ending, and it was even shown in cinemas for its opening weekend. However, Kubrick made the decision to change it to one much simpler. In the original ending, Wendy is in a hospital bed and is told that a lieutenant and his men explored the whole hotel, but they couldn’t find any evidence to back up her wild claims.

Though it’s another chilling addition, Roger Ebert claimed that the removal of the scene was a good idea because it, “pulled one too many rugs out from under us.”

1 Nicholson Almost Hit A Crew Member With The Axe

On the same footage wherein Kubrick torments Duvall, the cast and crew can be seen preparing for the scene where Wendy watches Jack axe down the door. Nicholson’s getting in to character jumping up and down, and he can be heard mumbling, “come on, you f****** trout,” and then, “Axe murderer kill.”

He runs around and then picks up the very real axe. As a crew member walks behind him speaking in to a radio, Nicholson swings back the axe, almost completely taking the crew member out.