Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros
Topics: Film and TV
Jess Hardiman
Behind-the-scenes footage of The Shining is giving fans ‘chills’ after revealing the incredible amount of work that went into creating an iconic scene from the film.
Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece is a psychological horror that would prove to be one of actor Jack Nicholson’s defining roles.
You can watch Kubrick at work shooting a terrifying confrontation between Nicholson's Jack Torrance and Shelley Duvall's Wendy below:
The film follows aspiring writer Torrance as he takes his family to the remote Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies to look after the building as an off-season caretaker.
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It isn’t long before Jack’s sanity deteriorates and he tries to attack his wife Wendy (Shelly Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd).
A sequence near the end of the movie sees Wendy imprison Jack in a storage cupboard - but Jack chillingly reveals he's one step ahead of her.
TikToker Rhiannon Elizabeth Irons (@rhiannonelizabethirons) shared behind-the-scenes footage of the scene being made, writing: “Jack still gives me chills!”
And it seems many others felt the same as they watched director Kubrick lying on the floor beneath Nicholson as his lead star shouts through the doorway – admiring the lengths it took the pair to get the unnerving camera angle.
“Fascinating seeing behind the scenes,” one person commented.
Another said: “Genius. This movie is a masterpiece and Jack Nicholson is an incredible actor.”
A third wrote: “Still gives me chills. Nicholson is a master at his craft.”
A fourth added: “What an amazing actor is. The angle Kubrick uses adds to the overall psychological thrill.”
The footage comes from The Making of the Shining, a behind-the-scenes featurette directed by Kubrick’s own daughter Vivian, which was also released in 1980 and can be found on the 2007 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of the film.
Back in October, it was announced that Nicholson's former co-star Duvall would be returning to the big screen after two decades.
Her performance in The Shining was initially met with a negative reception, with the gig landing her a now-rescinded Golden Raspberry nomination, but she has since gone on received widespread acclaim for the role.
Duvall will now star in an indie horror-thriller The Forest Hills, which is written and directed by Scott Goldberg and follows a man who is tormented by scary visions after experiencing a head injury during a camping trip in the Catskill Mountains.
She will play the mother of the ‘mentally and emotionally disturbed’ character Rico, who will be portrayed by Chiko Mendez.
The cast also includes Terminator 2 star Edward Furlong and Dee Wallace, while Scott Hansen serves as producer with Dreznick Goldberg Productions and digital Thunderdome Studios.
“Shelley contributed to The Shining being an absolute masterpiece by giving her all, and performing in a way that really showcased the fear and horror of a mother in isolation,” director Goldberg told Deadline.