Shelley Duvall breaks down while re-watching iconic 'Shining' scene
The Shining star Shelley Duvall re-watched an iconic scene from the 1980 film for the first time in years in a rare new interview, breaking down in tears in the process.
Duvall played Wendy Torrance in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film, who heads to the Overlook hotel with her son Danny and increasingly disturbed husband Jack (played by Jack Nicholson).
- READ MORE: ‘Doctor Sleep’ review: trauma-fuelled sequel brings fresh scares to ‘The Shining’ story
The scene in question sees Jack threatening to attack Wendy, saying: “I’m not gonna hurt you, I’m gonna bash you brains in.”
In the new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Duvall became visibly emotional watching the film back. Asked why her reaction was so strong, she said: “Because we filmed that for about three weeks. Every day. It was very hard. Jack was so good – so damn scary. I can only imagine how many women go through this kind of thing.”
“It was a difficult scene, but it turned out to be one of the best in the film.”
Speaking of working with director Kubrick, she added: “He’s got that [cruel] streak in him. He definitely has that. But I think mostly because people have been that way to him at some time in the past.”
She added that the director was “very warm and friendly” to her on set.
A new sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, was released in 2019. A four-star NME review of the film said: “For the most part, Doctor Sleep is a thrilling, nostalgia-fuelled ride that does its best to appease fans of the original, as well as those brought up on newer King flicks like Pet Sematary and It: Chapter Two.
“However, you can’t help but feel this adaptation has more in common with the latter than The Shining. It’s much cleaner narratively and the inevitable twist is sort of predictable.”
In other news, HBO recently announced that a new series called Overlook is on the way – inspired by The Shining.
Produced by J.J. Abrams and Ben Stephenson – head of Bad Robot television – the show is described as “a horror-thriller series that explores the untold stories of the Overlook Hotel, the most famous haunted hotel in American fiction.”