Stephen King explains key reason he likes The Shining mini-series more than the Stanley Kubrick classic
Topics: Stephen King, Horror, Books, Film and TV, Social Media
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: ABC/Jim Spellman/WireImage
Topics: Stephen King, Horror, Books, Film and TV, Social Media
Movie adaptations are a risky business; they either nail the original book and impress die-hard fans, or they miss the mark and leave people sorely disappointed.
Well, it's no secret that Stephen King isn't the biggest fan of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
He certainly hasn't minced his words about it in the past, admitting the movie is 'beautiful' but that he 'didn't care much' for it.
Whether you rate it or not, there's no denying the horror is an 80s icon - who isn't familiar with the phrase 'Here's Johnny!' and the instantly recognizable shot of Jack Nicholson's head poking through an axed-down hotel door?
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Anyway, it turns out King prefers his own three-part miniseries based on The Shining book, which released almost two decades after Kubric's movie.
And when he breaks it down, from an author's point of view, you can kind of see why...
The Shining centers on Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic and aspiring writer who moves into the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Mountains, joined by his family. But the hotel's evil spirits begin messing with Jack after a brutal snowstorm, and all hell breaks loose...
Talking about the adaptation, King felt like the movie version of Torrance had 'absolutely no arc at all.'
The character was inspired by King's own experience with alcoholism, too, so he obviously knew how he wanted Torrance to be portrayed in the movie.
As King told Deadline in 2016: “When we first see Jack Nicholson, he’s in the office of Mr. Ullman, the manager of the hotel, and you know, then, he’s crazy as a s*** house rat. All he does is get crazier.
"In the book, he’s a guy who’s struggling with his sanity and finally loses it. To me, that’s a tragedy. In the movie, there’s no tragedy because there’s no real change”.
King explained the other 'real difference' between the two stories is the ending.
Warning: the next part of this article contains major The Shining spoilers. If you haven't seen it yet then yes, I'm passing judgement...
He told Deadline: "The real difference is at the end of my book the hotel blows up, and at the end of Kubrick’s movie the hotel freezes. That’s a difference."
So, what about King's miniseries version of The Shining? King penned the script and was executive producer on the project and thanks to its three, two-hour long episode set-up, the series could stay true to King's original book.
However, it's not exactly aged the best; the visuals are a little naff now, looking back, as fans of King have since pointed out on social media.
Despite their differences, King reassured there was no bad blood between him and Kubrick.
"I met Kubrick and there’s no question he’s a terrifically smart guy," he resolved. "He’s made some of the movies that mean a lot to me, Dr. Strangelove, for one and Paths of Glory for another."