The Stanley Kubrick movie Ridley Scott hated: “It didn’t work for me”
Ridley Scott has always listed Stanley Kubrick as an influence on his work, whether it be the impact of 2001: A Space Odyssey on his 1979 film Alien or his nuanced portrayal of violence in A Clockwork Orange. From his meticulously detailed visual style to his complex characters, the auteur has defined a unique model of filmmaking in which each project is vastly different to the one that came before, existing as its own distinct set piece within his body of work. While many people appreciate his creative shape-shifting and ability to adapt to many different genres, Scott has shared the one film of Kubrick’s that he doesn’t like.
The Shining is largely heralded as one of the greatest horror movies ever. From the very opening shot, as Kubrick’s camera ominously hovers over the mountains accompanied by Wendy Carlos’ monumental score, the audience is instilled with a feeling of unwinding dread as we loom over the oppressive quiet of the hotel.
Jack Nicholson’s character feels untrustworthy from the outset, coming across as forcefully optimistic and falsely cheerful as he gushes about the opportunity and his love for his family, something that we all know comes full circle as he hacks away at them with a saw.
However, there were many controversies surrounding the film after its release. Stephen King expressed his dislike of Kubrick’s adaptation of the story and how he didn’t stay faithful to the source material. While the writer hated the film for this reason, many fans love this version for the ambiguous horror and slow suspense that is carefully expanded on, creating a visceral and inescapable portrait of madness and insanity.
For this reason, Scott does not like The Shining, a revelation that comes as a shock given how widely revered the film is. When asked about this, Scott said, “Well, I honestly have to say I thought the book was better. Stanley somehow mucked around with the house, the place and the light, and the book was, I think King’s best book. King’s book had a much darker and gloomy hotel. The Boiler Room is a monster in the book. All boiler rooms are scary as sh*t. Stanley chose deliberately to go very bright, very modern. And I thought, why? So immediately, it didn’t work for me. It made it an uphill battle on what was a very scary book. He didn’t really want to get into the shining, where Scatman Crothers says, you shine boy. He didn’t really use that enough”.
While some die-hard fans of the book have issues with the fact that Kubrick changed the source material, many would argue that these changes were for the better and served the medium of film more effectively. Through the classic ‘show don’t tell’ philosophy, Kubrick has arguably created something more terrifying by playing on our fear of the unknown, instead of explaining away these details that ultimately make them less terrifying.
But Scott is clearly a fan of the novel, and for these reasons he struggles to get on board with the liberties Kubrick took to twist the story. Many of us can still find faults within our heroes, and especially as a filmmaker, you will always view each project through a critical lens, regardless of who made it.
