Lee Unkrich claims the number of takes in ‘The Shining’ stairway sequence is “not true”
Filmmaker and lifelong fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Lee Unkrich, has suggested that the stairway sequence in the 1980 film was not as arduous to shoot as reports have long suggested.
In a conversation with IndieWire, where Unkrich was promoting the release of the Taschen book that explores Kubrick’s movie, which he edited, the filmmaker revealed several truths behind the making of the iconic movie. Based on the novel penned by Stephen King, the horror tale follows a family who is looking after a desolate hotel over winter, only for the father to descend into madness.
Debunking the myth about Kubrick performing multiple takes, he states: “He really demanded that the actors knew their lines so well that they didn’t have to think about them at all so that they could focus on the performance and hitting the marks…But all that said, I hope something [readers] got out of the book is that it pierces a lot of misinformation or greatly exaggerated information that’s been out in the world about this movie and about Kubrick in general”.
Continuing, Unkrich adds: “But that wasn’t the norm. I mean, I have all shot logs for the entire movie. So I know how many takes were done on every shot. And they often talk about this scene with Wendy and the bat on the stairs. It’s even in The Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of takes [127]. And it’s completely not true. It was reported by a crew member who wasn’t even on the set when it was shot”.
Appearing alongside the lead star, Jack Nicholson, the supporting actor Shelley Duvall infamously had a stressful time working on the film, with the stairway sequence often being an example of how hard the director worked her on set. Speaking further about this subject, Unkrich explained: “The story of Shelley Duvall and her supposed mistreatment on the set has become more and more exaggerated over the years to the point where that’s all discussed as if it was this extremely abusive situation, which it just wasn’t”.
Take a look at the trailer for the iconic 1980 horror movie below.
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