Hear Stephen King Share His True Thoughts on ‘The Shining’ With David Letterman

If we take William Shakespeare out of the running, Stephen King might very well be the most frequently-adapted author of all time. Counting theatrical and made-for-television films, King’s works have made it to the screen over 100 times, leaving only a relatively meager handful of novels that have yet to be adapted.

1. What Stephen King Thought of The Shining
2. Why Stephen King Dislikes The Shining

As his fans are aware, King hasn’t always been happy with how some of those titles have been reinterpreted by filmmakers. The most infamous example is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, the 1980 feature based on King’s 1977 novel of the same name. King has long bemoaned how Kubrick chose to relate the story of Jack Torrance, a writer who agrees to act as a winter caretaker for the remote and possibly-haunted Overlook Hotel with his wife and son.

But King’s criticism of the film hasn’t always been so severe, as a 1980 interview with David Letterman demonstrates.

What Stephen King Thought of The Shining

One of the earliest comments King made about The Shining on television came when King visited The David Letterman Show in August 1980 to promote his new book, Firestarter. The morning show, a precursor to Letterman’s late-night series, booked King for a wide-ranging discussion on his childhood, living in Maine, and how much control he has over Hollywood’s adaptations of his work.

That led to Letterman asking about The Shining, which had opened with Jack Nicholson in the starring role three months prior. You can hear King’s answer below:

“I thought [Nicholson] did a wonderful job,” King said. “I enjoyed [him] very much.”

“How did you feel about the movie itself?” Letterman asked.

“Well, I feel both ways,” King said. “I got to see it four times…there are an awful lot of things about that movie I think are flawless and beautiful and just marvelous. And then there are other times when I feel as though I had given Stanley Kubrick a live grenade and he heroically threw his body on it.”

King went on to say the degree of control he has over films is minimal, as he rarely asked for it. “As for actually selling a book to the movies, you send it off as you would send a child to off to school. You hope it would do well, and well will be done by it…then you’re in a perfect situation. If they do a great job, you can say, ‘That was my book.’ If they do a lousy job, you can say, ‘I had no control.’”

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King’s mixed compliment on Letterman was about as diplomatic as he would get. As time went on, more of his negative feelings about the Kubrick film would emerge.

Why Stephen King Dislikes The Shining

In an interview published in The Christian Science Monitor the same month as his Letterman appearance, King expanded on his problems with Kubrick’s film. “Kubrick's direction is good, but it's heartless,” King said. “Technically the movie is flawless, and the acting is great, but it's not very scary.”

A major flaw in the movie, according to King, was that the character of Jack Torrance, who begins the novel as a well-reasoned person, seems to be off his rocker from the very beginning. “I wanted to see an early scene where he takes the kid on his lap, gives him a kiss, and says, ‘I love you, Danny.’ Instead, the movie begins in a Volkswagen, where Nicholson regales the family with a story about cannibals. Kubrick has a very cold sensibility.”

In a 1986 interview with American Film, King was asked about the movie and reiterated another bone of contention: that Kubrick was not versed in horror. “Oh, I would do everything different [if I directed it],” he said. “There's a lot to like about it. But it's a great big beautiful Cadillac with no motor inside. You can sit in it, you can enjoy the smell of the leather upholstery—the only thing you can’t do is drive it anywhere. So I would do everything different. The real problem is that Kubrick set out to make a horror picture with no apparent understanding of the genre.”

Eventually, King taking more control over a version of The Shining was no longer a hypothetical. In 1997, ABC produced a made-for-television miniseries adaptation, which King wrote for director Mick Garris. Wings star Steven Weber was cast as Jack Torrance.

But King had to pay a price for the chance at a do-over. Kubrick still controlled the screen rights to the book and was willing to relinquish them only if King promised to stop wailing on his 1980 film.

“I have to keep my mouth shut entirely about Stanley Kubrick’s version,” King said.