Happy 35th Birthday!
That’s right, one of the greatest horror films of all time just celebrated its 35th birthday with a big reunion event in England!
“Here’s Johnny!”
Yes, that line was ad-libbed, but that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to trivia about “The Shining”, Director Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece…
The film just celebrated its 35th birthday, and Warner Brothers did a really cool thing: they reunited many of the film’s participants for a huge anniversary event in England.
Here’s how it was reported in The Hollywood Reporter: “To celebrate the 35th anniversary of “Here’s Johnny” becoming one of cinema’s most iconic lines, the crew and even some of the cast from The Shining assembled at Elstree Studios, the famed U.K. facility where much of Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed psychological horror was shot in 1979.
Arranged by Warner Bros and The Elstree Project, a local program aimed maintaining the studios heritage, the group later attended a special screening of the film in the Odyssey Cinema in St. Albans, the nearby town outside London where Kubrick lived for 20 years until his death in 1999.”
Here is how the event was described by Garrett Brown, the man who invented the Steadi-cam…
“Seeing this crowd again, it’s like a room full of ghosts, but very gentle good ghosts.”
Identical twins Louise and Lisa Burns were also present. The girls memorably played the Grady Twins in the film – they were just ten years old when the film was made – and they appeared in many different – and gruesome – scenes.
“It’s so lovely to be with the whole gang again,” said Lisa, who shared a funny story about Steadi-cam operator Garrett Brown. “Mummy wouldn’t let us have a cup of coffee and a donut each, just half a cup and half a donut. But he used to go around and get us an extra cup and a donut. It was like being part of a big family.”
“The Shining” Exposed!
I have posted about filmmaker Rodney Ascher’s 2012 film called “Room 237”, a documentary that highlights many conspiracy theories about “The Shining.”
My favorite is this: the knitted Apollo 11 sweater worn by Danny Torrence and the particular design of the carpet was Kubrick’s apology for having supposedly shot the 1969 moon landings – a huge “fake” lunar landing to coverup the fact that we never went to the moon!
“The Shining” Executive Producer Jan Harlan laughs off all of the conspiracies. She sums up the film simply:
“It’s a ghost film, end of story. It’s completely mysterious. When at the end you see Jack Nicholson in the photograph in 1923, you can’t ask ‘how come?’, because nobody can possibly have an answer. Kubrick always said ‘never try to explain something that you don’t understand yourself.'”
You can read all about “Room 237” here, and gets lots of great “Shining” trivia as well:
According to THR: “Kubrick’s daughter Katherina said that during the shoot she had asked her dad if he believed in ghosts. “He said no but wouldn’t it be nice if there were because that would mean it wasn’t the end.”
Danny Lloyd, who was just six years old when he played Danny Torrance, greeted the audience via videotape, and spoke about his life after “The Shining”.
“I know that I’ve kept a low profile, and I know people say that’s because I didn’t like the movie or didn’t like the process of making the movie, but that’s definitely not true,” he said. “So I want to set the record straight and say that I really enjoyed the experience and the crew was like my family.”
Lloyd is now a father of four, and he teaches at a community college in Kentucky, where he has a small farm.
According to THR, “Lloyd finished the video with his child Ben ride a bike around the house, much like he himself had done in the Overlook Hotel, built in Elstree Studios, 35 years earlier!”
Now, if this isn’t enough great trivia for you about “The Shining”, how about this one:
Simon Cowell Was Involved!
Yes, it’s true! You can find out just how by clicking on my story about some of the craziest pieces of movie trivia EVER!
https://johnrieber.com/2015/01/04/simon-cowell-was-shining-debra-winger-is-e-t-wildest-movie-facts/
And here’s to 35 more years of “The Shining” horror!
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