The Shining Extended Edition on TV tonight: 5 curiosities about Kubrick’s film

Shining by Stanley Kubrick, a masterpiece of the horror genre directed by Stanley Kubrick last year is back in theaters in its extended version, complete with some new scenes, which make the film even more evocative. Based on the novel by Stephen King, it debuted in Italy in 1980 and since it was immediately defined as a one-of-a-kind film: it is no coincidence that it is considered a true cult of the seventh art. 40 years later, totally renovated in 4K, it is still a current and contemporary work, which attracts fans of Kubrick and the horror genre.

The cast is surprising Jack Nicholson, who for many critics is masterful and unique. He is joined by Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd, his wife and son respectively. In a ghostly setting of the Overlook Hotel, in the Rocky Mountains, closed during the winter, Jack Torrance, writer, agrees to work as a caretaker and brings his family with him. Nothing is as it seems, and both his wife and son immediately sense something is wrong. When the first storm overwhelms the hotel and there is no possibility of escape, ghosts from the past re-emerge.

Jack transforms and appears to have been in that place before. A plot that is not always clear, in the director’s style, which disturbs and overwhelms the spectator and which leaves its mark. Various scenes Shining which are today part of the history of world cinema: from the one in which Jack breaks down the bathroom door to the night escape in the labyrinth and even the twins in the hotel corridor and the child on the tricycle are considered horror classics.

The Shining, 5 curiosities that few people know about

The indisputable success of Shiningwhich still resonates today among cinema enthusiasts and beyond, is accompanied by some interesting curiosities the making of the film that few people know about. Not everyone knows that Jack Nicholson, a former volunteer firefighter, broke the door so hard for the bathroom scene that the workers had to build it several times, given that they had built it in a superficial way. to facilitate the actor in the destruction.

Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall have repeatedly expressed their dissent against those who have argued that the film’s success is only due to Kubrick’s genius. In reality they both played two intense characters and very difficult to interpret.

Furthermore, the director shot more than one hundred shots for each scene and this brought imaginable levels of stress to the operators. One of these Scatman Crothers was shocked by the pace of work. Yet despite his perfectionism and compulsiveness known to all, Kubrick shot the scene of the blood pouring from the elevators in just three takes.

It also seems to make Nicholson nervous and more prepared for his role throughout the filming period he was fed cheese sandwiches, which he hated: an order from the director that turned out to be a good one. The film can be seen this evening on Iris, channel 22.