Based on the successful thriller by Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick’s film allowed itself a few liberties or even a masterstroke that allowed the feature film to become a cult classic despite criticism from the writer who did not appreciate this adaptation at all.
1/ During the bar scene, Jack is served a Jack’s Daniel while in the book he actually drinks a Martini.
This little wink was meant to refer to the name of the main character and that of his son Daniel (Danny).
2/ Jack Nicholson’s favorite phrase ” Heeeeeere’s Johnny ” comes from a TV show called the ” Tonight Show ” hosted by Johnny Carson. It was improvised by the actor and almost wasn’t used by Kubrick who didn’t know it.
It was a scene that took 3 days to shoot and destroyed 60 doors.
3/ All the scenes filmed by Kubrick respect the central perspective which is the director’s personal touch.
If you pay attention to the scenes from ” The Shining “, you will see that most of the images follow this rule of perspective with straight vertical lines:
4/ We often wonder how children manage to act in horror films without being terrified. Well, for The Shining , Kubrick did not reveal to little Danny the theme of the film in which the young 6-year-old child was acting.
For one of the more intense scenes where his mother carries him away from his crazy father, the director replaced Danny with a mannequin so that he would not have to film the scene. It was not until Danny Lloyd was 11 that he was able to watch the horror film, which he thought was a film about a family drama.
5/ To annoy Jack Nicholson and thus put him in good shape for his role as a killer, he was not allowed to eat anything other than cheese – a food he hates the most.
—Bring this man a raclette.
Everything is explained.