- The Shining holds the Guinness World Record for the most retakes for a dialogue scene.
- It took a total of 148 takes to get the perfect shot of the conversation between Danny and Dick Hallorann where Dick explains what is the Shining to him.
- Another scene in The Shining, the one where Jack Nicholson breaks down the bathroom door, also called the "Here's Johnny" scene, took more than 130 takes and destroyed almost 60 doors.
Brain stimulus often drives humans to do things that no other species on Earth would do. For instance, the human race literally pays money to get scared as they walk into theaters to watch some of the most brutal or mind-bending horror movies. While we are talking about such horror flicks, one movie made a name for itself not just in the history of Hollywood but also in the Guinness book of World Records.
Stanley Kubrick created The Shining 45 years ago today, based on a novel by Stephen King with the same name. However, he took serious artistic liberty with the project and changed the original story so much that Stephen King openly expressed his dislike for the project. Now, Kubrick is known to pursue perfection in ways one would call sadistic, and one such feat in The Shining earned it a place in the Guinness book of World Records.
What World Record Does The Shining Hold?
Now that I have already told you that The Shining holds a Guinness World Record, let me get into further detail about what it is about. The Shining holds the world record for the most retakes for a dialogue scene, 148 times to be precise. Stanley Kubrick shot the scene where Danny (Danny Lloyd) and Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) are talking to each other and Dick explains what is the Shining to him a whopping 148 times.
Not just this, in The Shining itself, Stanley Kubrick shot the “Here’s Johnny” scene where Jack Nicholson breaks down the bathroom door more than 130 times. Getting the perfect shot destroyed approximately 6o doors for the perfect shot. However, if you think Kubrick is a bit twisted, he is not alone in this feat, as David Fincher took almost 99 takes for The Social Network‘s opening scene.
The funny thing about this is that it has not been revealed which take out of the 148 ones was used in the final draft of The Shining, so there is a chance that it could even be the first take or maybe the final one. However, as fascinating as this feat of demanding perfection is, it is equally bizarre and must have been almost scarring for the cast of this movie.
Why Did Kubrick Need 148 Takes of the Same Scene?
The reason for Kubrick to make the cast of The Shining go through so much pain is simple: the pursuit of perfection. The scene in itself delivers one of the most intense and chilling moments of the movie, and it only makes sense for the director to make sure it works perfectly. If you think this was too much, let me tell you that Kubrick quite literally traumatized Shelly Duvall, who played Wendy in the movie, by constantly demeaning her and picking fights with her just so she could get in the mental space of the character she was supposed to play.
As we celebrate 45 years of The Shining, some would call this pursuit of perfection sadistic, while some might find it fascinating. However, whatever Stanley Kubrick did for The Shining, it paid off well as the movie has become a timeless classic, which has been loved and cherished for years and will retain the same fame as long as horror exists in Hollywood.
