Making 'The Shining'
- Episode aired Oct 4, 1980
- 35m
A look behind the scenes during the making of The Shining (1980).A look behind the scenes during the making of The Shining (1980).A look behind the scenes during the making of The Shining (1980).
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the behind the scenes "Making of" documentary, it becomes clear that, the hotel interior set design not only uses the available official Sound Stage floor spaces, but also flow out to include the (dressed/disguised) "backstage" Elstree Studio buildings areas, such as studio corridors, dressing rooms, offices, etc. By coincidence, it appears that most of the Elstree Studios' Sound Stages and related studio buildings used for "The Shining" were later demolished in the notorious Brent Walker period, for what would become the site of the Tesco Supermarket, making this behind the scenes film, and "The Shining" itself, unintentional records of the Elstree Studios site prior to the demolition.
- Quotes
Stanley's Mom: And why is the script in multi-coloured pages? Anything?
Stanley Kubrick: Each time we make a new version, at first you get very methodical - each time you make a new version, you put a different colour in. After a while, you're lucky if people get copies of the changes.
Jack Nicholson: It's so that you start with white, then you go to blue, then pink, then green, then yellow.
Stanley's Mom: But I just wondered...
Stanley Kubrick: But what happens is...
Jack Nicholson: It's so that when everybody's got their script out, you can look right over and know if they've got the latest version. But of course...
Stanley Kubrick: ...that never happens.
Jack Nicholson: They never have the latest version.
Stanley's Mom: So, a blue or a yellow... isn't significant?
Stanley Kubrick: No.
Stanley's Mom: It's just colours.
Jack Nicholson: I quit using my script. I just take the ones they type up each day.
Stanley's Mom: Aren't you exaggerating a little bit?
Jack Nicholson, Stanley Kubrick: Nope.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991)
But the main event of this documentary and the one that truly sets it apart from all others are the glimpses we catch of the master himself. Stanley Kubrick was a consummate filmmaker, an artist of legendary proportions and above all, an enigma. No one ever really knew Stanley, not even those close to him and we as a viewing audience can only guess just what went on in that labyrinthine mind of his as he poured his heart and soul into each movie he made. Well thanks to his very own daughter, we received the opportunity to watch the legend at work. We see him telling Danny to look scared, telling Jack to look down while he speaks, and telling Shelly off for ruining his shot when he had it just the way he wanted it. We even see him come up with one of the most famous shots in the film mere seconds before he decides to use it. He only yells if the situation truly necessitates it and otherwise speaks with a slow and almost subservient voice. It's one thing to see a picture of Kubrick but another thing entirely to see him up and about giving orders to his cast and crew. True to style, he is the only principle on the set to not give a sit-down interview and actually explain himself but that doesn't even matter, because what we see of him is more than enough to whet our appetites. We see him at work, in his element, doing what he was always meant to do. What more could you ask for?
- QuentinTarantino1121
- Nov 15, 2008