Shelley Duvall’s father Stanley commands action in a now-famous film that was taken by a 19-year-old Vivian Kubrick before a scene in “The Shining.” Duvall misses her cue, either because Kubrick was outdoors while she was inside The Overlook Hotel’s set, or perhaps because the snow machine that was blaring at the location drowned out Kubrick’s call for action. After calling “cut,” Kubrick finds Duvall at the door and tells her that she is “wasting everyone’s time” rather than trying to figure out why the cue was missed. Following this footage, Duvall is heard remarking in Vivian Kubrick’s making-of documentary that she doesn’t believe her performance would have been as excellent if Kubrick hadn’t given her a boost, but adds that Kubrick intentionally treated her this way to produce the performance. She seems at ease. She beams.
Even though that was over 40 years ago, she sounds optimistic. Many details concerning the appalling working circumstances for “The Shining” actors and crew have come to light in the years following the movie’s debut, but none have been as lengthy or as taxing as Shelley Duvall’s. Duvall was a rising star at the time, but Kubrick’s treatment of her on set nearly caused her to quit acting permanently.
‘I Don’t Know How I Did It’
The duration of “The Shiningfilming, “‘s which Kubrick decided to shoot chronologically, was a staggering 500 days. This indicates that Duvall suffered from a man in an untouchable position of power for more than a year of her life. At this time in his career, Kubrick was already regarded as an auteur, and instead of being rightly labelled as detrimental, his unusual (read: abusive) methods were praised as genius. He received a prize and was free to go whatever direction he desired. Many people have attempted to defend Kubrick by citing passages from Vivian’s documentary in which Duvall praises the filmmaker for choosing to treat her inhumanely, but they have never given the passages proper context. What else do people expect her to say if the daughter of the person who has the authority to make or destroy the remainder of Duvall’s career shoves a camera in her face and asks how she thinks about his method?
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Duvall stated, “I have no idea how I managed it. That is what Jack [Nicholson] also said to me. I don’t know how you do it, he said.” The treatment of Duvall as Wendy is a factor in the author Stephen King’s animosity against Stanley Kubrick’s film, which he has not hidden. “That’s not the woman I wrote about,” the author said, “who is basically just there to shout and be ridiculous.”
Kubrick Completely Mistreated Duvall on Set
The confrontation with the baseball bat on the stairs, one of “The Shining’s” most famous sequences, served as the pinnacle of his hatred toward Duvall. Horror enthusiasts love to cite Kubrick’s requirement that Duvall and Nicholson shoot the sequence in a record-breaking 127 takes as a fun fact. Duvall’s hands were shredded raw from clutching the bat for so long, her voice was raspy from crying, her eyes swelled, and she departed the scene totally dehydrated as a result of the continuous takes. Duvall’s on-screen tears of suffering, anxiety, and weariness were not the result of acting; rather, they were the result of an actor delivering lines while experiencing a trauma response.
Duvall suffered such severe psychological abuse from Kubrick that her hair started to fall out. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Duvall remarked, “To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realise that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled — I would just start bawling.” In the equally famous “door scene,” Jack Nicholson demolished close to 60 doors to get the shot to Stanley Kubrick’s delight. This one sequence took three days to shoot. Since the majority of the scenario was improvised, Duvall’s reactions are accurate, and Kubrick is said to have retained information from her regarding Nicholson’s decision to smash through the door with an axe. This is a response to trauma, not acting.
She had an anxiety attack on set
Duvall is seen at one point in Vivian Kubrick’s documentary lying on the ground with various cushions surrounding her. Although there was a clear attempt to emphasise the difficult process of filmmaking, what was actually being shown was the aftermath of a panic attack that had occurred on set. “For the longest time I couldn’t remember what exactly was happening at that moment, but I do recall I had a really bad anxiety attack on set, and I believe that was what is shown in the documentary,” Duvall said in an interview with ComingSoon.net. Duvall goes on to say that the days spent filming were frequently 15 to 16 hours long, with little time for breaks. The actress said, “The shoot was incredibly difficult for me and I reached a point where I just couldn’t take anymore. I needed a break, but taking a break costs money and people need the picture finished, so I had a minor breakdown.
Kubrick, according to the source, “has an image in his head of what he wants to see through his camera, and if you don’t exactly understand where he is coming from, he gets upset and angry.” I just wasn’t grasping it, but in the end I did. Communication and comprehension play a significant part on film sets. It’s difficult to hear Duvall talk about the experience because, although describing a work climate and treatment that are obviously inappropriate, she is still trying to rationalise what took place to her. The truth is that no actor should be subjected to conditions that might cause them to experience an anxiety attack during filming, and if this were to happen, precautionary precautions would need to be taken. Duvall owed himself better.
The Difference Between Acting and Reacting
Actress Dee Wallace recalls her tiredness during filming “Cujo” in a remark from an interview she gave for “Eli Roth’s History of Horror.” There, she claims, “Most people are unaware of the fact that your body cannot tell the difference between a threat that is real and one that is only perceived. I basically lived in fight-or-flight mode for eight weeks, which caused me to exhaust all of my adrenal glands.”
This clarifies what was happening with Duvall. No matter how many times she tells herself “I’m acting” and how much she is aware that the acts she is taking are scripted, her body will still react to the situation as if it were really happening. “Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures,” a documentary by Vivian Kubrick, is unafraid to address her father’s absurd production techniques, with co-star Jack Nicholson acknowledging that Kubrick behaved “differently” around her.
Duvall’s lines were regularly abruptly deleted, she was frequently left alone, and she was made to wait a long time before acting out her sequences, all of which served to confuse her. Even in those instances, Vivian’s video demonstrates how Kubrick demanded that the rest of the team follow his direction rather than acting independently. Don’t feel sorry for Shelley, he tells the crew. He also decided not to ever acknowledge her efforts and to always condemn any decisions or inclinations she had for the role. At one point, he orders the other members of the crew to dismiss her and any requirements she may have. The fastidious nature of Stanley Kubrick is well known, but at what expense?
We Need To Call It What It Is
In 2016, Duvall made an appearance on “The Dr. Phil Show,” looking like he needed help and mumbling incoherently. Her response to Dr. Phil’s question about “The Shining” was the most sincere she had been in years, despite the fact that he portrayed it as sensationalist exploitation. “I suppose this is what the majority of people associate me with. I won’t go into too much detail now, but the movie was a pain to work on “She spoke. Then she continued, saying:
“In terms of the actors, Jack, Scatman (Crothers), and Danny (Lloyd) were all excellent. All of them were incredibly funny, but Stanley Kubrick, the filmmaker of this legendary work, stood out. All I’ll truly say for the time being is that I suppose things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did if he hadn’t directed things the way he did, if he hadn’t done everything with brutality and force.”
Duvall’s perspective has a melancholy acceptance to it, as if she has bought into the myth that she wouldn’t have been as good in the role without suffering injury or as if she has persuaded herself that the suffering she endured was required for the movie to be as well-liked as it was. Duvall was too preoccupied trying to retain her sanity while being psychologically abused to have time to perform. That is the indication of a poor director rather than a poor actor. It is not legendary or the work of a perfectionist to put someone in a life-threatening situation for 127 attempts on a staircase; rather, it is abuse, and we need to start calling it that.
