Abrams the ending was changed almost entirely because kubrick found it a cliche to just blow everything up. Stephen king rejected doctor sleep pitch to recreate kubrick. Published in 1977, it is kings third published novel and first hardback bestseller. Stanley kubricks adaptation of stephen kings novel about a. In the 20 novel doctor sleep, kings official sequel to the shining, a grown danny torrance suffers from alcoholism like his father. What stanley kubrick got wrong about the shining salon. He begins thinking of writing a book about the overlook. Dick hallorann scatman crothers is shown to possess the shining, a combination of telepathic and precognitive abilities. Until the last minute, the plot seems to be wrapping up in a conventional way. For the famous scene where jack nicholson breaks down the door with an axe, the crew made a fake door for him to break through, but had to replace it with a real door as the fake one broke too quickly due to jack nicholsons prior training as a fireman. Now, i say mostly because good old jack is getting some help from a. By discarding jacks emotional journey and building tension externally, kubrick changes what, for stephen king, defines the shining as a book. Bridging the gap between the shining book and film. Nov 05, 2019 filmmaker mike flanagan has been quite vocal about his doctor sleep being both a sequel to stanley kubricks the shining and an adaptation of stephen kings 20 novel of the same.
Stephen kings the shining is a classic piece of literature and. The hotel will soon close for the winter, but cant be left unattended. Stephen king is one of the most frequently adapted authors of all time, with a staggering 199 credits to his name on imdb a number little inflated by repeat adaptations the way shakespeare and dickens benefit from the endless romeo and. I first saw this movie when it was released to theaters. Hbo maxs recently announced overlook series will need to blend the source material and kubriks the shining in a way that doctor sleep didnt. The shining tv show overlook is happening at hbo max with j. Jack lets the boiler explode to destroy the hotel while the. The first line of the shining reveals jacks thoughts about stuart ullman during jacks job interview. The elevated manner in which the story of the torrance family.
Roger is deeply infatuated with him, though derwent is emotionally and verbally abusive towards him. In the 1980 film adaptation she was portrayed by shelley duvall. Nov 01, 2012 born from a bad dream experienced during a onenight stay at a colorado hotel that was closing for the season, the shining is the first book stephen king wrote from a position of financial stabilit. Does this mean that, through their survival, theyve somehow broken the cycle. Not long after, the book began a long and complex road to the screen. According to stanley kubricks script jack nickolsons character poked his head in the crushed door without any words at all.
The book was published by doubleday in january 28, 1977. The film version made big changes to the character of jack overall, and subsequently, many elements of the story were completely modified to better represent the character the picture was working with. Having read the book, i went with great anticipation. Those familiar with stephen kings book, and its sequel doctor sleep, know that dannys shining ability was something jack may have been gifted. This is different to the book, where dick is able to sense his potential death in the near future. Jul 08, 2015 in the final shots of stanley kubricks the shining, the audience sees the corpse of jack torrance jack nicholson frozen to death in the hedge maze where he tried to kill his wife wendy. Jack torrances new job at the overlook hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As it stands, the ultimate fate of the lost ending remains as indeterminate as the shining itself. Stephen kings the shining 1977, stanley kubricks the shining 1980 and stephen kings the shining, a miniseries directed by mick garris 1997. Jack gives danny an empty bee hive as a present, which end up full of bees when it was supposed to be empty.
He puts the invitation back in the book and starts reading the scrapbook. Isolated for months on end jack torrance, an abusive alcoholic writer has been. As the film develops, it becomes more mysterious, ambiguous, threatening, and hallucinatory. This provocative and fascinating documentary, a crowdpleaser at film festivals around the world last year, showcases some of the. However, he is somehow unable to foresee his own death at the hands of jack when he arrives back at the overlook. For nearly 40 years now, the shining has reigned as one of the most acclaimed and terrifying horror films ever made. Oct 01, 20 jack nicholson in the shining warner bros. The shining is a tragedy, and wed be remiss to classify the ending otherwise.
While breaking down the bathroom door with the axe, jack repeatedly strikes and damages the right hand panel. The true story behind the legendary lost ending of the. The shining book was published in 1977 and followed jack torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who takes a job as the offseason caretaker of the overlook. When he accidentally breaks dannys arm, jack realises he has to change his ways. The little fires everywhere ending, explained by its writers. He is the cousin of jackie torrance he has the shining, which allows him to detect spirits, thus making him a prime target of the overlook hotel. The shining is the story of jack torrance, who is employed as the caretaker of the gargantuan overlook hotel in colorado one winter. The shining is a gothic horror novel by stephen king, first published in 1977. In the novel, roger is the homosexual lover of overlook hotel owner horace m.
In the movie the motivation of the ghosts is to possess jack torrance to get him to kill danny. The iconic stephen king universe character of jack torrance has now been played by four different actors in four different film and tv projects. At first, it feels like a traditional horror setup a guy gets hired to spend the winter in an enormous hotel, secluded from civilization, where obviously something will go very wrong. Differences between the shining book vs movie page 1. King had already scored two paperback bestsellers with his first two novels, carrie 1974 and salems lot 1975. How hbo maxs overlook could succeed where doctor sleep failed. What happened at the end of stanley kubricks the shining. In stanley kubricks film the shining, when jack breaks. Heres every difference between the shining book and the film. A solid commercial success for the film which opens here next week would confirm one of kubrick. The is the first time weve heard that dannys middle name is anthony same as jacks father, which alludes to the doubling and foiling of the complex fatherson conflicts in the shining, as we discuss in jacks analysis.
Doctor sleep recreates part of the shining book s ending, not the films. Mar 10, 2016 the other was the olympia up on 100 and something street, friedkin said. But nicholson all of a sudden decided to use a very popular phrase of that time. How does the ending of the shining differ from stephen. The overlooks manager, ullman, is concerned about giving jack the job. We explain stephen kings aggressively unpleasant, winnebagoriding shining vampires led by rose the hat.
Doctor sleep is a 20 horror novel by american writer stephen king and the sequel to his 1977 novel the shining. The shining, one of the stephen kings bestselling novels and the film that has had a huge impact in pop culture, finally has the ending explained in an interview with ew, producers jan harlan and diane johnson explain the steps that were taken in making the film, and the decisions made by director stanley kubrick to create the final ending. Moving his wife, wendy, and their son, danny, into it for the. Jack explains why he doesnt want to be interrupted while hes working. His assessment is correct, and hes far from the only one to note ullmans tendency to lord it over others. He is trying to rebuild his life after previously breaking his son dannys arm and assaulting a pupil at a vermont prep school where he was a teacher. Buy a cheap copy of the shining book by stephen king. How does the ending of the shining differ from stephen king. Why stephen king still hates stanley kubricks the shining. At the end of the novel, jack had ignored the boiler for too long, and the hotel explodes.
Ending spoiler for the shining 1980, plus mistakes, quotes, trivia and more. Mar 30, 2017 the shining is one of the all time classic horror movies, buts its also a pretty great book too. The final shot of the shining, its ambiguity forever helping stanley kubricks most popular film carry on its enduring legacy for nearly thirty. That would have been fun to see, and a better ending, right. For the first time, the shinings producer and cowriter explain in detail why the horror tales ending changed from stephen kings novel and. Doctor sleep recreates part of the shining books ending. The shining is stanley kubricks bid for a super hit, his attempt to even a number of scores. When king delivered him a screenplay of the film, kubrick declined, instead, preferring his own take on the book to film adaptation. While breaking down the bathroom door with the axe. Stanley kubricks adaptation of stephen kings novel about a haunted hotel and a boy with a. Jack rushes to go release the boiler before it explodes, but danny uses his shining to help him see what hes become. Which means it was playing to people who didnt give a fuck about stanley kubrick, and were only going to go see the shining because of the trailer.
Doctor sleeps grand finale takes inspiration more from stephen kings the shining than the stanley kubricks famous film. Behind little fires everywheres surprising and inevitable ending breaking down the miniseriess biggest departures from the book with showrunner liz tigelaar and novelist celeste ng. Before the overlook is vacated for the torrances, the manager barry nelson informs jack that a previous caretaker went crazy and slaughtered his. Mar 25, 2020 for those that have never read stephen kings the shining novel, might be surprised that the film adaption was quite different than the book it was based on. Jack torrance made his first, and most impactful appearance in kings 1977 classic novel the shining, ending up as the primary antagonist after falling prey to the influence of the overlook hotels malevolent ghosts. Jan 29, 2018 on january 28, 1977, stephen king published a book that came to be considered a modern horror masterpiece. He thinks about breaking dannys arm, and of the incident with george. The shining is a film about cyclical violence, and about how we cant escape the dark specter of history.
Stephen king has also written doctor sleep which is the shining book. However, the book and movie differ in some key areas, like how the iconic ending of the movie was. Basically the man actually knew how to break a door down. Eclipsed perhaps only by its 1980 film adaptation, the novel is one of the most popular and enduring horror stories of all time. Why stephen king hates stanley kubricks the shining. Stanley kubricks the shining was released in 1980, and since has been hailed as one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Apr 17, 2018 the shining works as a supernatural ghost story as well as an exploration of a tortured mans downward spiral into homicidal madness.
The shining mainly takes place in the fictional overlook hotel, an isolated, haunted resort hotel located in the colorado rockies. Yeah, yeah, there at the end things got a little hairy, but it was still mostly a human trotting around getting all stabby. So many people wonder how much of a difference there is between the film and novel of the shining by stephen king. The shining is the story of jack torrance, who is employed as the. The shining is a horror novel by american author stephen king. The book, the shining, is a literary masterpiece written by stephen king.
For those that have never read stephen kings the shining novel, might be surprised that the film adaption was quite different than the book it was based on. Unbelievable true story behind daring prison break movie escape from. Jun 22, 2012 the shining is the story of jack torrance, who is employed as the caretaker of the gargantuan overlook hotel in colorado one winter. For those who havent read the shining book, heres how the ending basically goes down. The most debated element of the shinings ending is the final shot. He is trying to rebuild his life after previously breaking his son dannys arm and. It turns out, stanley kubrick, the director of the film, wasnt a fan of kings writings. However, today i realize that transferring a book to a movie is always going to involve a certain number of compromises. Note this was also used for the remake 2007 shining movie, where instead of a bee hive its a different insect nest which fills up that night when it was suppose to be empty. The book reached the first position on the new york times best seller list for print and ebook fiction combined, hardcover fiction, and ebook fiction. Daniel anthony danny torrance is the son of jack and wendy torrance, the older halfbrother of lucy stone and the uncle of abra stone. Also, if tony is danny at fifteen, then tonys presence has all. The young, psychic danny played by danny lloyd in the film has a climactic face off against his possessed father jack jack nicholson. But if youve read the book and watched the film, its.
The shining by stanley kubrick is one of my favorite movies ever and im interested in reading the novel. Tv series merrygoround of the shining gets another spin this week with the wide release available in theaters and on itunes of room 237. She is the wife of jack torrance and the mother of danny torrance. The ending of kings novel, which involves jack succumbing to death by explosion, is a warm selfsacrifice that ultimately saves his wife and son, one that shows the humanity that still remains. Differences between the shining book vs movie page 2. The shining is the third book published by stephen king. The true story behind the legendary lost ending of the shining. The death is also nothing like jacks fate in the novelization of the shining, written by stephen king. His ability also allows him to see past, present, and future events through his guide, tony. The hotel closes during the winter, but someone still needs to stay in the hotel to ensure its assets remain. In the lost ending of the shining, jacks frozen stare cuts to a scene where the overlook hotels manager, stuart ullman, visits jacks wife wendy and son danny in a colorado hospital where theyre recovering from their ordeal. With ghosts, visions and psychological horror, the shining by stephen king is a very good horror story, i would say one of his best, right up there with the likes of salems lot which is another sk novel that i recommend if you enjoy horror. Stanley kubricks the shining had a much darker alternate ending. The unmasking will happen at the stroke of midnight.
Check out his first column below, exploring the shining. At the end of the shining, why is jack in the photo of. What stanley kubrick got wrong about the shining stephen king has always disliked stanley kubricks film of the shining, and he has a point. Stanley kubricks the shining has become one of the most influential films in cinema history, often regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made, but it took some liberties when adapting stephen kings novel. The most debated element of the shinings ending is the final shot, showing jack in the photo of the overlooks 1921 fourth of july party, which could mean a few things. More telling are jacks overt hostility toward a man he has. Movie, hell be taking a critical look at movie adaptations of horror novels. In stanley kubricks the shining, you watch a writer named jack torrance lose his mind while acting as caretaker of the overlook hotel. Jun 15, 2018 in stanley kubricks the shining, you watch a writer named jack torrance lose his mind while acting as caretaker of the overlook hotel. Stephen king has admitted not liking this version of his book.
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