Before deciding on Jack Nicholson for the role, supervisor Stanley Kubrick considered hiring Robin Williams to play the primary personality, Jack Torrance, in the scary movie “The Shining.”
Casting the stars is one of the essential elements of making a movie, and also a subject film followers never ever tire of hypothesizing around. It is reported, for instance, that comic Robin Williams was considered for the lead role of the crazed Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 movie “The Shining,” which inevitably starred Jack Nicholson in the role.
In January 2023, we were asked by a viewers if the declare that Williams was missed for the role is appropriate. According to the ideal resource we can locate– the Twitter account taken care of by Kubrick’s estate, it is.
Among the locations we discovered the insurance claim duplicated (though unsourced) was the user-submitted facts area of IMDb’s entrance on “The Shining,” where it is affirmed that Robert DeNiro and also Harrison Ford were likewise considered for the component:
Stanley Kubrick considered Robert De Niro and also Robin Williams for the role of Jack Torrance, however made a decision versus them. Kubrick did not assume De Niro would certainly match the role after viewing his efficiency in Taxi Driver (1976 ), as he regarded De Niro not psychotic sufficient for the role. He did not assume Williams would certainly match the role after viewing his efficiency on Mork & & Mindy (1978 ), as he regarded him as well psychotic for the role. According to Stephen King, Kubrick likewise quickly considered Harrison Ford.
It likewise shows up (once again unsourced) in “The Amazing Book of Movie Trivia” (2015) by Jack Goldstein:
Stanley Kubrick placed a lot of assumed right into that to cast asJack in The Shining He initially considered Robert De Niro, however after viewing Taxi Driver, he really did not assume he was psychotic sufficient. He after that considered Robin Williams, however having actually viewed Mork and also Mindy, Kubrick assumed he discovered as a little as well psychotic. In the end, he cast Jack Nicholson, that presented simply the correct amount of insanity.
And the insurance claim is duplicated, unsourced, on the web site ScreenRant, also:
When spreading Jack Torrance for The Shining, supervisor Stanley Kubrick considered Robin Williams at one factor; the tale goes that Kubrick was established on Williams up until he enjoyed an episode of the star’s television collection at the time, Mork and also Mindy, and also discovered the star “too psychotic” for the role, spreading Jack Nicholson rather.
Our search for a dependable resource at some point took us to the main @StanleyKubrick Twitter account, which is run by the estate of the late movie supervisor. Although it deals with none of the complementary information discussed over (such as the declare that Kubrick discovered Williams “too psychotic,” and so on), aSept 5, 2019, tweet from that account specifies that Williams, Ford, and also De Niro were certainly all at once or an additional considered for the role of Jack Torrance in “The Shining”:
Sources:
Albinder,Cole “10 Actors Almost Cast as Horror Villains.” ScreenRant, 27Mar 2020,
Goldstein,Jack The Amazing Book of Movie Trivia. Andrews UK Limited, 2015.
” Twitter, Accessed 16Jan 2023.
The Shining (1980) – IMDb. www.imdb.com, Accessed 16Jan 2023.
