In celebration of one of the greatest horror movies of all time, we decided to put together some behind the scenes photos of the making of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. We here at The Ghost Diaries can never get enough insight into Kubrick’s brilliant filmmaking process, especially in The Shining. We study every ingenious frame of this film in complete wonder of how a cinematic experience could be so beautiful and sinister at the same time.

Kubrick’s quest for perfection was taken to new levels during the making of The Shining. Crew members broke down in tears and actors found themselves asked to do over 127 takes (The Guinness Book World record) for a single shot. Other stories include: Kubrick agonizing for months on the color of the titles in the opening credits; calling Stephen King obsessively at 3 AM asking him if he believed in God; frantically changing scenes at the last second; forcing Jack Nicholson to eat cheese sandwiches (which he hated) to portray disgust; and pushing actress Shelly Duvall’s sanity till her hair started falling out. Jack Nicholson was so disturbed by the way Shelly Duvall and Scatman Crothers were treated that he vowed never to work on a Kubrick film again.

It took 3 days just to film the “Here’s Johnny” scene, which required over 60 doors. If you haven’t seen The Making of The Shining by Vivian Kubrick, it is essential viewing for anyone who’s a fan of The Shining.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on these rare treasures, some truly captivating moments from the set of The Shining:











