Stanley Kubrick on why Jane Fonda could have never played Wendy Torrance
One of the easiest ways to ensure any movie stands a better chance of succeeding at the box office is to cast at least one major star in a lead role, but Stanley Kubrick had his reasons for restricting The Shining to just one.
The filmmaker’s atmospheric Stephen King adaptation was always designed with Jack Nicholson in mind to play Jack Torrance, from Kubrick’s perspective anyway. The author wasn’t entirely convinced, but looking at how he disparaged the finished film for making such hefty deviations from his source material, it’s not as if he was integral to the creative process.
Thanks to this status as one of the industry’s pre-eminent auteurs, not many actors would turn down the opportunity to collaborate with Kubrick, although it did happen on the odd occasion when he set his sights perhaps a little too high. Nicholson initially suggested Jessica Lange for Wendy’s part, but the director always envisioned it with Shelley Duvall.
Already a known quantity at the time without being a star in the same stratosphere as her on-screen husband, Duvall was a favourite of Robert Altman’s, having worked with him on Brewster McCloud, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, Nashville, and 3 Women. A versatile and adaptable presence, Kubrick knew from the beginning she was perfect for The Shining.
Of course, the turbulent relationship between them during production has gone down in Hollywood legend after Kubrick pushed Duvall to the brink in order to exact the performance he’d imagined in his head, something he admitted wouldn’t have worked if a performer with more wattage was hired instead.
Echoing that belief in an interview with John Hofsess, Kubrick admitted that “to a considerable degree I cast the film while reading the novel,” which left him with only one candidate for Jack; “Who else but Jack Nicholson could play the father?” he asked entirely rhetorically.
With his leading man guaranteeing a certain type of intensity, aura, and charisma, the director needed somebody who could both be believable as his struggling spouse while standing out on their own. “I think Shelley Duvall – in an addition to being a wonderful actress – perfectly embodies the kind of woman who remains married to a man like Jack Torrance, even though she knows he has brutally assaulted their son,” he offered. “You certainly couldn’t have Jane Fonda play the part; you need someone who is mousy and vulnerable.”
Fonda may have been one of the biggest stars of her era and an incredibly talented actor, but Kubrick is right in saying she would be too forceful a personality to play the unassuming Wendy. It would certainly make The Shining a whole lot less believable if she had, and in casting Duvall, he was rewarded with one of the horror genre’s all-time great performances.
