When Stanley Kubrick stopped Steven Spielberg’s criticism of ‘The Shining’ in its tracks
One of the defining qualities of the legendary auteur Stanley Kubrick was his ability to draw the extreme from his actors. From Tom Cruise’s slow unravelling of masculinity in Eyes Wide Shut to the shrill desperation of Shelley Duvall in The Shining and the camp hilarity of Ryan O’Neal in Barry Lyndon, the vast range of emotional nuances within Kubrick’s work speaks to the genius of his directing; breaking down the emotional walls and building something entirely new that keeps you on your toes.
However, his work wasn’t always understood or appreciated at the time, even by other directors, with Steven Spielberg famously criticising Jack Nicholson’s career-defining performance in The Shining and saying it was “over the top”. But Kubrick responded in an interesting way, highlighting the differences between both visionaries.
The performances in Spielberg’s films are a stark contrast to those in Kubrick’s. While Spielberg tends to err on the side of realism and subtlety, Kubrick’s work is designed to provoke and confront, often with a forceful gaze that exaggerates the extremes of masculinity and the modern world. When Spielberg first spoke to Kubrick after the release of The Shining, he feigned complete enthusiasm towards the film despite his unease with Nicholson’s performance, describing all the things he loved in an effort to disguise the aspects he didn’t.
However, Kubrick saw straight through this act and said, “Well, Steven, obviously you didn’t like my picture very much”. Spielberg tried to defend himself, but Kubrick insisted that he tell him what he didn’t like about the picture.
Spielberg eventually said, “I thought Jack Nicholson, who was a great actor, I thought it was a great performance. He said, ‘You mean, you think Jack went over the top’. And I said yeah, I kind of did. And he said okay, who are your top favorite actors of all time? I quickly went Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Clark Gable. He stopped and said, ‘Okay, where was James Cagney on this list?’ I thought, he’s up there, high. He said, ‘Ah but, he’s not in the top five. You don’t consider James Cagney one of the five best actors around? You see, I do’. This is why Jack Nicholson’s performance is a great one.”
Spielberg’s list of all-time favourite actors is very much reflective of his filmography: classic, understated, timeless and perhaps, a little safe. These actors would undeniably blend better with the world of Spielberg, with stories that generally speak to the masses and are enjoyed on a mainstream level. However, Kubrick’s work speaks more to cinephiles and film lovers alike instead of being ‘crowd-pleasers’, more of a creative marmite compared to the likes of Jaws and E.T. Kubrick’s casting choices encapsulate this difference; known for taking mainstream actors and pushing them away from the qualities that have defined their careers, creating something unexpected from their image that tests the audience and occupies a unique space within cinema.
It would be surprising to see Kubrick list the same actors as Spielberg on this list, and it’s this difference that separates the strengths of both auteurs – while Spielberg can predict what people want to see, Kubrick can create films we love but didn’t expect to see. Maybe Spielberg didn’t appreciate the madness of Nicholson then, but perhaps now sees it in a new light and understands a glimmer of the vision that Kubrick once had.
