Those who know me know that I am a very devout Shining fan. It's my favorite book, it's my favorite film, I've dressed as Torrance for Halloween, carved Shining inspired pumpkins, decorated my house with a variety of memorabilia and spent an 2 hours crying over that particular section at the Kubrick exhibit this year at LACMA. You get the point.
Yet, I am still the first to admit that in terms of an book to screen adaptation, The Shining is a fucking horrible movie. Just about the only thing that the book and film have in common are the names of the characters, Kubrick had his own vision and while it was stunning, he completely shut King out of the production. Low blow, bro.
King has never kept it a secret that he is not a fan of Kubrick's interpretation of the book. However, with Dr. Sleep looming over us now of course his views of the film are starting to come out in interviews. He recently shared some more insights that I had never heard before and I thought it was interesting enough to share on here.
In a recent interview with BBC: “[It's] cold, I’m not a cold guy. I think one of the things people relate to in my books is there’s a warmth, there’s a reaching out and saying to the reader, ‘I want you to be a part of this.’ And with Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ I felt that it was very cold, very ‘We’re looking at these people, but they’re like ants in an anthill, aren’t they doing interesting things, these little insects.’”
When the subject of the two main characters was brought up: “Jack Torrence, in the movie, seems crazy from the jump. Jack Nicholson, I’d seen all his biker pictures in the 50s and 60s and I thought, ‘He’s just channeling The Wild Angels here,’” he said, “Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film, she’s basically just there to scream and be stupid and that’s not the woman that I wrote about.”
While right now isn't the right time for me to spew off my thoughts about the film (trust me, it'll take a while and that post is coming soon anyway) I've always said these things about the film, so it's nice to see the man himself reinforce my sentiments.
More importantly, have you read the book and what do YOU think about the translation from book to film? Share those thoughts!
Get Dr. Sleep in a bookstore near you next Tuesday, September 24th.
- Rg Lovecraft
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