Promoting his sequel to The Shining, King says that Stanley Kurbick's version of Wendy Torrance is 'one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film'

Stephen King's distaste for Stanley Kubrick's film of The Shining is well-documented, with the author claiming it's the only movie adaptation of his work he could "remember hating". But in an interview with the BBC to promote his sequel, Doctor Sleep, King has explained further issues he has with the 1980 film.

It was, he told Will Gompitz, "cold" in its regard for the characters, who the audience observes as you might "ants in an ant hill". Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Jack Torrance made it plain from the start that this was a character in meltdown – an eccentric, rather than an everyman.

These are fairly familiar faults, but King has not until now explicitly criticised Kubrick's treatment of the character of Jack's wife, Wendy. As played by Shelley Duvall, Wendy is, he says, "one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film. She's basically just there to scream and be stupid."

King's words find echo in the testimony of co-screenwriter Diane Johnson, who claimed that Kubrick cut much of Wendy's dialogue, thus making her a less complicated character. A 1997 mini-series version of the book, scripted by King, has Rebecca De Mornay portraying Wendy with a force and confidence more in keeping with the novel. Writing in the book Hollywood's Stephen King, Tony Magistrale praises the reinvention, damning Duvall's take as "Olive Oyl revisited".

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