A Luz (1997)
Trivia
Author Stephen King plays Gage Creed, the band conductor. Gage Creed is also the name of the 2-year-old boy played by Miko Hughes in Cemitério Vivo (1989), also based on a book written by King. King also had a cameo in Pet Sematary.
Frank Darabont makes a cameo in the living room as a ghost. Darabont directed Os Condenados de Shawshank (1994) (based on King's short novel), and visited King to tell him he would direct the upcoming À Espera de Um Milagre (1999). While there, he was talked into appearing as an extra.
The Stanley Hotel is not only where the mini series was filmed but is also the hotel that originally inspired Stephen King to write the novel, having stayed a night there just as the hotel was closing for the season and was nearly empty of guests and employees (detailed at 0:09:40 in the episode 1 DVD commentary). He stayed in Room 217, which had long been said to be haunted. (The actual hotel room is on a corner, not in the middle of the hallway as it appears in the film.)
Stephen King was extremely unhappy with Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the novel, which is why he had such a hands-on approach with the mini-series. He not only wrote the teleplay, but he even makes a cameo in it. The mini-series brings back a lot of the things that Kubrick ejected, particularly Jack's struggle with alcoholism.
Jack's fight with alcoholism was inspired by Stephen King's own struggle with it when he wrote the book.
One of Stephen King's biggest objections to the Stanley Kubrick version was that Jack Nicholson played Jack Torrance as if he was already mad. This adaptation takes great pains to make Torrance seem fine at the start, slowly succumbing to madness as he endures an isolated winter at the Overlook Hotel.
ABC allowed Stephen King to do a miniseries of The Shining on the condition that he didn't badmouth the film version. King has never kept it a secret in the past how dissatisfied he was with the film.
The role of Jack Torrance was originally offered to Tim Daly. He was interested but unavailable, and suggested they offer the part to his Wings (1990) co-star and good friend Steven Weber. Daly eventually worked with Stephen King in the mini-series Tempestade do Século (1999).
This mini-series came about largely because of Stephen King's dissatisfaction with the Stanley Kubrick film. King had always been quite publicly opposed to the changes that Kubrick had made to his novel but to re-obtain the rights from the Kubrick estate, he had to publicly recant his opinions.
The first shot of the Torrances talking about the Donner Party while driving is virtually identical to the same shot in Shining (1980).
One of the reasons King wanted to tell The Shining as a miniseries was so he could push the violence envelope far more than the film had.
According to the commentary, Stephen King was the third unit director. He did all of the still photographs that are seen in the scrapbook in the basement.
The miniseries brings back the animate hedge animals from the novel; these were replaced with a hedge maze in Shining (1980) because Stanley Kubrick felt the effects of the time were not up to it.
When Jack hears his father on the CB radio, the voice belongs to actor Miguel Ferrer. Ferrer also starred in the film adaptation of King's short story O Aviador Nocturno (1997) and in the TV mini-series version of O Vírus Assassino (1994), which also directed by Mick Garris.
Director Mick Garris' wife Cynthia Garris plays the decomposing guest in Room 217.
The scene between Jack and Wendy in the hotel lobby goes on for just over ten minutes, something almost unheard of for a mini-series. Lengthy scenes like these are very expensive for a television format, which is probably why all of the other scenes are much shorter.
Danny being menaced by a snake-like fire hose outside Room 217 (at 0:21:12 in episode 1 and 0:21:12 in episode 2) is in the novel too but was omitted from the film. The CG cost of the two scenes was $30,000 according to EW.com, 4/11/1997.
Wendy's line to Jack "You can take your job and stick it" was cut from "You can take your job and stick it up your ass!" by Standards and Practices.
The Stanley Hotel was adorned with topiary animals for this film, just like in Stephen King's original novel. Years later, however, a hedge maze was added, just like in Kubrick's film.
Author Peter Straub says The Shining "is obviously a masterpiece, probably the best supernatural novel in a hundred years".
The miniseries goes into more detail about Jack Torrance's relationship with his father like the novel than the film did.
In the original novel, Wendy Torrance is a blonde. Here, she is played by the blonde Rebecca De Mornay as opposed to the dark-haired Shelley Duvall in the 1980 film.
Stephen King later wrote a book sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep. Although written in 2013/2014, it's set in the 1980s initially.
Director Mick Garris has past form with Stephen King, having directed adaptations of the author's Sonâmbulos de Stephen King (1992) and O Vírus Assassino (1994).
Jack refers to Batman and Spider-Man at one point. Pat Hingle was in the Batman movies as Commissioner Gordon, as was Jack Nicholson, star of the original Shining (1980). Weber provided the voice of Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012). Hingle was also in Potência Máxima (1986), which was written and directed by Stephen King.
In Doctor Sleep, Stephen King writes the line "the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world"; Rebecca De Mornay was the star of the movie of the same name.
In the novel, people are still checking out of the Overlook when the Torrances arrive, and they are in the film but not the miniseries.
The Stanley Hotel is built in a "snow shadow" where there is little snow, which is why they build a summer resort hotel there. There was very little snow during the 1996 film shoot except for one really heavy snow that blanketed things late in the shoot (mentioned at 0:46:56 in the episode 2 DVD commentary).
Stephen King first got the idea for Doctor Sleep in 1998 at a book signing when somebody asked him what happened to Danny. This was a question King had often asked himself as well as what would have happened to Jack Torrance had he found AA. King started thinking about how old Danny was and where was Wendy now and decided to find the answers with a sequel. But it was a tall order. He considered Doctor Sleep the true history of the Torrance family.
Director Mick Garris initially offered the part of Jack Torrance to Gary Sinise, but he turned it down, felling that audiences would accept no one but Jack Nicholson in the role.
In the book, the ghost of Horace Derwent also appears to Danny and says "Great party, isn't it?" But he only says it to Wendy in the series, and an injured guest says it to Wendy in the film.
In the novel, the ghosts promised to make Jack the manager if he gave them Danny. Danny recalls it when sleeping on storm drains in the book sequel Doctor Sleep.
Room 217 continues a theme in Stephen King stories of rooms with numbers having significance.
The woman from Room 217 is named Mrs Massey in the novel and still appeared to Danny in the sequel, Doctor Sleep. Danny considered her the worst of all the apparitions he saw at the hotel. He has bruises on his neck because she tried to strangle him. She appears in the bathroom because that's where she died. Danny learned to lock away the spirits of Mrs Massey and Horace Derwent in a mental lockbox after Dick showed him how, but they can be reopened if need be.
In the book, when Dick and Danny are talking about the Shining, Dick asks Danny to show him his power by giving him a blast, and it is in the miniseries but not the film. Abra, a girl with the Shining does something similar to Danny in the book sequel Doctor Sleep.
Stephen King said he wrote The Shining and Doctor Sleep because he wanted to tell a kickass story and follow the adventures of Danny Torrance.
Danny is one of several characters in Stephen King novels with mental powers. Others are Carrie, Firestarter, and the sequel to the Shining, Doctor Sleep.
In Doctor Sleep, Stephen King writes about a paranormal group called The True Knot (psychic vampires) that live off the steam (emotions) produced by people during 9/11. One of them has a premonition of 9/11. The True Knot can still sense the impressions and emotions of the people who died at the Overlook when examining the foundations. The True Knot can use Danny's memories of the Overlook against him. Jack appears to Danny after The True Knot are defeated like at the end of the series.
During Jack's alcoholism in the novel, he liked nothing more than up to a dozen drinks. Wendy could take or leave alcohol, but Jack was hooked after one.
In Doctor Sleep, Dick Hallorann still drives a red Cadillac, and he and Danny still retain a psychic link, but Danny's Shining is much stronger than Dick's. Danny can get information about someone just by touching them (even though his predictions are sometimes wrong), but Dick believed everyone had a bit of Shining in them. Danny's Shining can increase and decrease in frequency, but he doesn't like reading people's most private thoughts. Hallorann's grandmother (and her great grandmother) also had the Shining and they carried on mental conversations. Hallorann was sexually abused by his grandfather when he was five, who used to call Hallorann Dickie-Bird. He also burned Dick with a cigarette or bit him but said nothing would happen if Dick told his parents because of their inheritance. He later died of a stroke but he came back to haunt Dick like Mrs Massey came back to haunt Danny. Dick smokes Marlboros. He now worked in a restaurant in Key West, Florida. Dick had spent Winters cooking at a number of Florida resort hotels. On January 19th, 1999 Dick Hallorann died of a heart attack, but Danny wouldn't discover that for another 15 years. Dick was quite a ladies man, and so was Melvin Van Peebles allegedly. Danny shared things with Dick he didn't with Wendy, but although he could lock things away like the ghosts of the Overlook, he never could with his drinking (he had become an alcoholic like Jack) because privately he didn't want it to, and because there were some things he couldn't lock away as well as he used to.
Jack is writing a play in the miniseries and the book but in the film, it's not known what he came to the Overlook to write.
Jack was supposed to mow the lawns and trim the topiary as part as part of his job as caretaker in the novel.
Courtland Mead was 8 years old when filming started and turned 9 (4/19/1996) in the middle of production (mentioned at 0:13:41 in the episode 1 DVD commentary).
When Jack enters The Colorado Lounge on the last day, he plays "In The Mood" by Glen Miller on the jukebox. In A Mansão de Rose Red (2002), "In The Mood" is one of Annie Wheaton's favorite songs; she uses her powers to play it on a broken record player during the investigation of the house, and she and Nick dance to it while several feet off of the floor. The song is also played during a scene in King's novel 11/22/63, but is not included in the TV adaptation of that novel.
Mick Garris said (at 0:46:56 in the episode 2 DVD commentary) that the Stanley Hotel is built in a snow shadow where there is very little snow. There was little snow during the 1996 shoot except for one heavy snow after which a couple of scenes were re-shot. Real snowfall is shown at 0:47:53 in episode 2.
Mick Garris said the miniseries was finished 5 months before it aired (at 1:05:37 in the episode 3 DVD commentary).
When writing Doctor Sleep, Stephen King had to be reminded of things from The Shining he'd forgotten. It's one of the few sequels he's written in his career.
In Doctor Sleep, Tony still speaks to Danny as an adult but not as often, and not through him like the film but to him like the novel and the miniseries. Danny hadn't tried to summon Tony since his teen years.
Sidewinder and Jerusalem's Lot (from Salem's Lot) are both name checked in another Stephen King novel Doctor Sleep.
In both The Shining and Doctor Sleep, a character breaks his arm. Danny was four when Jack broke his arm.
Blizzards are in both The Shining and Misery, another Stephen King novel.
Rebecca De Mornay previously had a relationship with actor Harry Dean Stanton. Stanton was a good friend of Jack Nicholson and was considered for the role of Lloyd the bartender in the original film Shining (1980). He later went on to appear in two Stephen King adaptations himself: Christine: O Carro Assassino (1983) and À Espera de Um Milagre (1999).
In Doctor Sleep, Stephen King named a magician/clown after Mysterio, a villain from the Spider-Man comics.
Cameo
Sam Raimi: The director of The Evil Dead and Spider-Man trilogies makes a cameo as the garage attendant who rents a snowmobile to Dick Halloran. Raimi also played the role of Bobby Terry in the miniseries adaptation of O Vírus Assassino (1994).
Spoilers
When Jack talks to his dead father on the CB radio, his nose begins to bleed. This was not planned. Steven Weber's nose spontaneously bled, and he decided to continue acting.
One of the last scenes takes place ten years after the Overlook burns down and shows Wendy and Dick attending Danny's high school graduation with Wil Horneff playing the role of the adult Danny to show that Tony, who appeared in Danny's visions, was in fact Danny himself - further indicated by the principal calling out Danny's name as Daniel Anthony Torrance.
The mini-series restores the novel's original ending that was done away with by the film; the Overlook burned to the ground at the end because Jack Torrance neglected to dump the boiler, but in the film it was still standing by the end and Jack froze to death in a hedge maze. The Overlook burned down 35 years before the events of the sequel Doctor Sleep.
Wendy smokes in the book and the film but not in this version. Danny believed her smoking is what killed her in Doctor Sleep so he never took it up.
In the book sequel Doctor Sleep, Wendy and Danny received a settlement from the corporation that owned the hotel, which helped Wendy through the first five years because she couldn't get work due to back injuries sustained by Jack and the corporation wanted to avoid a court case. The injuries plagued her for the rest of her life after Jack hit her with a croquet mallet. Wendy and Danny now lived in a cramped second-floor tenement apartment. Thanks to facial injuries suffered at the hotel, Wendy now snored.
