Few scenes in cinematic history are as chillingly iconic as the axe scene in Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, The Shining. This hair-raising few minutes, featuring the incomparable Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance as he rampages through the Overlook Hotel and tries to murder wife Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall, is etched into the collective memory of moviegoers worldwide.
But how was this unforgettable moment brought to life? Let’s delve into the behind-the-scenes magic created by the genius director and the brilliant actors.
According to an interview with Nicholson, the process of creating the axe scene with Stanley Kubrick was intense and meticulous. “Stanley was a perfectionist, and he made sure every detail was just right,” Nicholson recalled. Kubrick’s obsessive attention to detail extended to the set design, lighting, and even Nicholson’s performance.
Kubrick was known for his meticulous attention to detail and his penchant for drawing inspiration from various sources. A great admirer of the works of the German expressionist filmmakers of the 1920s, such as F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang, he drew inspiration from their use of dramatic lighting, distorted sets, and intense angles to create a sense of unease and dread. For the axe scene, Kubrick utilised low-angle shots, with the camera placed on the floor, looking up at Jack’s menacing figure, emphasising his power and intimidation over his family.
Kubrick also is likely to have drawn on two scenes in which fathers break through doors with axes – in the 1921 Swedish film The Phantom Carriage and DW Griffith’s Broken Blossoms, from 1936. In the first, director/star Victor Sjöström, playing an alcoholic, uses an axe to break down the kitchen door after his wife locks him in. In the latter, Lillian Gish hides in a closet from her drunken father Donald Crisp until he too breaks the door down.
Whatever Kubrick’s inspirations, the result was a scene that left a lasting impact on audiences and became a defining moment in horror cinema.
Shelley Duvall, who played Wendy Torrance in the film, also shared her experience of working with Kubrick. In an emotional interview, she revealed that Kubrick’s directing style was vastly different when working with her compared to Nicholson. Duvall explained that Kubrick pushed her to the brink, wanting to capture the rawness and vulnerability of her character. This relentless approach to filmmaking contributed to the authenticity and power of the axe scene, as well as the entire film.
“For a person as charming and lovable as Kubrick,” Duvall says in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures, “he can do some pretty cruel things when you’re filming.” He told Duvall that she was “wasting everyone’s time” while shooting the film and instructed crew members not to sympathise with her struggles.
“It was a very difficult role,” Duvall said. “It was a long shoot, and I had to cry and hyperventilate and carry a little boy for most of the time we shot. And that was about a little over a year.”
As for the film’s most famous scene, Duvall remembered: “We filmed that for about three weeks. Every day. It was very hard. Jack was so good – so damn scary. I can only imagine how many women go through this kind of thing.”
Producer Jan Harlan found the shoot considerably less taxing. “Some scenes were easier than people imagine: Jack hacking down the door with an axe was peanuts,” he told the Guardian. “All he needed to do was make the wood crack well. Shelley had a much harder time, because she had to be over-the-top scared all the time. Stanley was constantly telling her to look more afraid.”
The famous “Here’s Johnny!” line, delivered by Nicholson as he breaks through the door with the axe, has become an iconic moment in pop culture. Interestingly, the line was not originally scripted, but rather an improvised reference to “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. The inspiration for this improvisation reportedly came from Nicholson himself, who envisioned his character as someone who might watch Carson on TV. This spontaneous addition to the scene perfectly encapsulated the madness of Jack Torrance and has since become one of the most quoted lines in film history.
In the lead-up to filming the axe scene, Nicholson’s dedication to his craft was evident. He immersed himself in the role, often staying in character even when the cameras weren’t rolling. This commitment to authenticity, combined with Kubrick’s visionary direction, resulted in a scene that left crew members in awe and cemented Nicholson’s portrayal of Jack Torrance as one of the most memorable in cinema.