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It was no secret that Shelley Duvall and Kubrick had a bad relationship, due to Kubrick’s constant diminishing of Duvall’s acting during filming. This sparked controversy among press and audiences alike, but the film itself survived the test of time.
Jack Nicholson reflected on the Duvall/Kubrick relationship in a documentary titled Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. He drew attention to the double standards with which the director approached him and his co-star. Kubrick was on the same page with Nicholson and treated him with respect but was always critical of Duvall.
This was part of Kubrick’s plan, it seems. As Vivian Kubrick has confirmed in the commentary in The Making of The Shining, Stanley Kubrick deliberately bullied Duvall in order to enhance the insecurity of Wendy Torrance.
He can even be heard in the film saying to the other crew members while she is standing right next to him, “Don’t sympathize with Shelley.”
Kubrick would often put intense pressure on Duvall, saying she was wasting everyone’s time on set, and basically that all of her ideas and suggestions were worthless. He advised crew members to ignore her and refused to praise her work.
The result of this abusiveness can be seen in the famous baseball-bat scene, which was done in 127 takes (the scene with the most takes ever with spoken dialogue, according to Guinness Book of World Records). Jack Nicholson is menacing Duvall, and she is swinging a bat at him in distress. Duvall was crying between takes and her hysteria was quite real by the time the director found his money shot. The crying would last up to 12 hours a day and Duvall would eventually run out of tears, meaning that she had to keep bottles of water by her side to keep hydrated.
The iconic 'door scene' took three days to film and used nearly 60 doors. Mainly improvised (including the 'Here's Johnny' line), Duvall remained largely in the dark about what was coming her way. Her panicked screams are that of real terror as Jack Nicholson tore down the door; it is even rumoured that her desperate cries of "please Jack" are aimed at the actor, rather than his character. Years later Nicholson admitted to Empire magazine that Duvall had: "the toughest job [of] any actor that I’ve seen."
Her sudden appearance in the media after almost 15 years of obscurity once again raised questions about the toll of the 13-month-long trauma she endured while working on The Shining.
In the book The Complete Kubrick, Shelley Duvall recalled her experience.
“From May until October, I was really in and out of ill health because the stress of the role was so great. Stanley pushed me and prodded me further than I’ve ever been pushed before. It’s the most difficult role I’ve ever had to play.”
Jack Nicholson reflected on the Duvall/Kubrick relationship in a documentary titled Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. He drew attention to the double standards with which the director approached him and his co-star. Kubrick was on the same page with Nicholson and treated him with respect but was always critical of Duvall.
This was part of Kubrick’s plan, it seems. As Vivian Kubrick has confirmed in the commentary in The Making of The Shining, Stanley Kubrick deliberately bullied Duvall in order to enhance the insecurity of Wendy Torrance.
He can even be heard in the film saying to the other crew members while she is standing right next to him, “Don’t sympathize with Shelley.”
Kubrick would often put intense pressure on Duvall, saying she was wasting everyone’s time on set, and basically that all of her ideas and suggestions were worthless. He advised crew members to ignore her and refused to praise her work.
The result of this abusiveness can be seen in the famous baseball-bat scene, which was done in 127 takes (the scene with the most takes ever with spoken dialogue, according to Guinness Book of World Records). Jack Nicholson is menacing Duvall, and she is swinging a bat at him in distress. Duvall was crying between takes and her hysteria was quite real by the time the director found his money shot. The crying would last up to 12 hours a day and Duvall would eventually run out of tears, meaning that she had to keep bottles of water by her side to keep hydrated.
The iconic 'door scene' took three days to film and used nearly 60 doors. Mainly improvised (including the 'Here's Johnny' line), Duvall remained largely in the dark about what was coming her way. Her panicked screams are that of real terror as Jack Nicholson tore down the door; it is even rumoured that her desperate cries of "please Jack" are aimed at the actor, rather than his character. Years later Nicholson admitted to Empire magazine that Duvall had: "the toughest job [of] any actor that I’ve seen."
Her sudden appearance in the media after almost 15 years of obscurity once again raised questions about the toll of the 13-month-long trauma she endured while working on The Shining.
In the book The Complete Kubrick, Shelley Duvall recalled her experience.
“From May until October, I was really in and out of ill health because the stress of the role was so great. Stanley pushed me and prodded me further than I’ve ever been pushed before. It’s the most difficult role I’ve ever had to play.”