Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining: new book goes behind the scenes of a horror icon

Stanley Kubrick's The Shining behind the scenes with Jack Nicholson and Stanley Kubrick in studio

Jack Nicholson and Stanley Kubrick on The Overlook Lobby set at Elstree Studios, with sound recordist Ivan Sharrock

(Image credit: ™ & WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. (s22) Courtesy of Murray Close)

published 17 December 2022

For many, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is the exemplar of modern horror. It wasn’t gore that instilled such fear in its audiences, but the terror of isolation, domesticity, and the decline of the human psyche.

The Shining, adapted from a 1977 novel by the maestro of terror himself, Stephen King, has long been celebrated, sampled, reframed, conspiracy-theorised and dissected to the point of parody. And with a cult following, cultural weight and bank of symbolism this big, is there anything left to see, or say?

Stanley Kubrick's the shining published by Taschen — Stanley Kubrick's *The Shining*, a limited-edition book published by Taschen, designed by M/M (Paris)

Yes, according to Taschen, which will publish a new limited-edition three-volume book collection in February 2023. Ten years in the making, the edition includes hundreds of never-before-seen production and behind-the-scenes photographs, rare production documents, private correspondence, and set design sketches from the Stanley Kubrick Film Archives, conceptual art, an exclusive look at deleted scenes, alongside a set of facsimile reproductions of ephemera from the film.

The Overlook Hotel facade under construction on the Elstree backlot Stanley Kubrick's the Shining — The Overlook Hotel façade under construction on the Elstree backlot

A deleted shot of Wendy Torrance taking Polaroids of Danny in the center of the hedge maze — A deleted shot of Wendy Torrance (played by Shelley Duvall) taking Polaroids of Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) in the centre of the hedge maze

Edited by ‘Shining aficionado’ and Academy Award-winning film director Lee Unkrich, with text by bestselling author JW Rinzler, the book is a deep dive into the mechanics of how The Shining came to be, from Kubrick’s endless script rewrites to the film’s pioneering use of the Steadicam, and how exactly that blood-filled elevator happened.

As Steven Spielberg described, ‘You must read this book. And then – watch The Shining again the second you put the book down. And I don’t care if you’ve seen it 50 times, you will never see it the same way again. It’s going to change everything.’

Kubrick and Shelley Duvall on the Hotel Lobby set, dressed for the scene where Wendy Torrance happens upon a group of skeleton party guests that was later cut from the final film

Red Blood flowing from the elevator in Stanley Kubrick's the shining — 'Stanley was extremely nervous,' said Leon Vitali, actor and personal assistant to Kubrick, of the infamous blood elevator shoot. ‘We didn’t know if it was going to work. It was a one-off. We had thousands of gallons of this stuff that was going to be coming out of those elevator doors and it had to work… It was so beautiful you wanted to hug [him].‘ To the horror of nearby residents, a good deal of the blood allegedly escaped from the studio into the surrounding areas, and police were called to address the sea of red gore running through town

A deleted shot of Danny Torrance seeing the Grady twins in the hotel’s staff wing hallway in Stanley Kubrick's the shining — A deleted shot of Danny Torrance seeing the Grady twins in the hotel’s staff wing hallway

Jack Nicholson on a partial Hedge Maze set in Stanley Kubrick's the shining — Jack Nicholson on a partial Hedge Maze set. Nicholson had his head propped against a wooden brace to help keep it stock-still; he was in full frozen make-up and wore a wetsuit under his clothes to protect him from the cold and the snow. Hot-water bottles lined the underside of his body, out of view

Shelley Duvall and Jack Nicholson rehearse for a breakfast-in-bed scene, photographed by Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, limited-edition of 1,000, £1,500 each. taschen.com (opens in new tab)

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Books Stanley Kubrick

Harriet Lloyd-Smith is the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.