Was Robin Williams “too psychotic” for Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’?
Believed by some to be one of the finest movies of Stanley Kubrick‘s filmography, The Shining has always split opinion. From author Stephen King making his unfavourable thoughts on the film clear to the cruel treatment of the director towards star Shelley Duvall, many examples of the darker side of the movie added depth to the bright heights of its place in cinema history. There’s also the story that comedy legend Robin Williams was in the running to play the main character of Jack Torrance.
According to the old tale, when looking to cast the antagonist writer Jack Torrance for his 1980 adaptation of The Shining, Kubrick seriously considered approaching comedian Robin Williams, who had found fame in the hit ABC sitcom Mork and Mindy, a show which debuted in 1978. While Williams is now known for his dramatic acting as well as making his audiences laugh, with star turns in Good Will Hunting (for which he won an Academy Award) and One Hour Photo, to name just two.
However, it is said that Kubrick turned away from offering Williams the role after watching an episode of Mork and Mindy, where he, ironically, found Williams “too psychotic” for the part of the man attempting to murder his family. Allegedly, this led to Kubrick hiring Jack Nicholson, which became one of the actor’s most iconic roles. Elsewhere, it has also been claimed that the auteur considered Robert De Niro and Harrison Ford for Jack Torrance. In a somewhat tenuous assertion, although he had found fame for his portrayal of the insane Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 outing Taxi Driver, De Niro wasn’t psychotic enough for Kubrick.
However, as found on the fact-checking website Snopes, Lee Unkrich, co-author of the book Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’, which is about the making of the horror film, claims that Williams was never a contender for the role of Torrance as had been claimed. Unkrich must be considered a reasonably trusted source, given his role as the co-director of the Pixar hits Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, as well as being the sole driving force of 2010’s Toy Story 3.
Unkrich told Snopes that the story about Robin Williams and The Shining is untrue. “There are many apocryphal stories about the making of The Shining that have spread online, and this is one of them,” said Unkrich, who revealed he had accessed the movie’s Kubrick and Warner Bros. archives.
The author and filmmaker claims that, alongside other reasons, Williams was far too young and not prominent enough for Kubrick to have considered him for his film. According to Unkrich, official documents from Warners Bros. show that Kubrick had one backup for the role of Torrance if Nicholson declined, musician and actor Kris Kristofferson.
Unkrich’s complete email response to the fact-checking website reads as such: “Stanley first read the galleys of Stephen King’s novel in 1977. Nicholson was cast that year as well. Production on the film began in April of 1978. In 1977, Robin Williams was only 27 years old and had only a small handful of very tiny credits to his name. He didn’t become a household name until 1978 when he starred in the television show Mork and Mindy. Besides being far too young for the part of Jack Torrance (Nicholson was 40), Stanley Kubrick would never had considered an unknown to star in The Shining.”
Unkrich continues: “After the box-office disappointment of his previous film, Barry Lyndon, Kubrick was sorely in need of a hit, and he chose The Shining in an attempt to make a more commercial film. Kubrick had long wanted to work with Nicholson (they had discussed a biopic about Napoleon), and when Nicholson called Kubrick to ask what he was working on, Kubrick told him about The Shining.”
Whilst Unkrich’s account could be deemed a robust ending to the Williams story, one exhibit casts doubt on. In September 2019, a tweet on the official Stanley Kubrick Twitter account – run by the estate of the late auteur – claimed that whilst Nicholson was always his first choice, Robin Williams was indeed considered.
They wrote: “Whilst Jack Nicholson was always # StanleyKubrick’s first choice for the role of Jack Torrance, Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and Harrison Ford were also considered for the part. #TheShining”.
Despite what account you choose to believe, it’s clear that when it came to Jack Torrance, there was only ever going to be one actor that secured the role, Jack Nicholson. This doesn’t stop me from thinking about what Robin Williams might have been like as the murderous author, though. Perhaps, if he’d done it, he might not have gone on to become the family favourite who starred in the likes of Mrs Doubtfire and Hook.
