A scene in the cult film “The Shining” was repeated so many times by director Stanley Kubrick that it even made it into the Guinness Book of Records.
The Shining is a haunted house film and mystery thriller from 1980. It is based on the book of the same name by Stephen King. The film was produced under the direction of Stanley Kubrick († March 7, 1999).
The director is one of the most well-known names in film history. He is regarded as an absolute perfectionist who paid attention to the smallest details, as you can read here from our colleagues at Moviepilot. This is also reflected in a world record he set with a well-known horror film.
Here you can see a trailer for The Shining:
A single scene was shot a total of 148 times
With the “most retakes for a scene with dialogue“ (via guinnessworldrecords.com), The Shining secures an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. With a total of 148 takes, the film achieves the world record.
However, the moment in the story is rather unspectacular. In the often-repeated scene, Dick Hallorann and the boy Danny Torrance talk about the phenomenon of “shining”.
Here you can see the record scene:
That a scene directed by Stanley Kubrick was repeated so often was by no means an isolated case.
For example, actress Shelley Duvall, who played Wendy, said that she experienced anxiety attacks during the filming and was completely exhausted from the numerous retakes it took until the director was satisfied (via comingsoon.com).
Kubrick, in turn, believed that several attempts were needed if the actors had not prepared their lines well enough.
When asked if the director would actually do hundreds of takes for one scene, Kubrick replied in an interview with The RollingStone on August 27, 1987:
This happens when actors are unprepared. You cannot act without knowing the dialogue. When actors have to think about the words, they cannot work on their feelings.
Thus, it comes to making thirty takes of something. And still, you can see the concentration in their eyes; they do not know their lines. So you just keep going and hope that you end up with something at the end […}
Stanley Kubrick via rollingstone.com
The iconic moment when Jack Nicholson announces himself with the words “Here’s Johnny” was improvised by the actor himself, as our colleagues from Filmstarts write here in their list.
Who was responsible for the record entry? Garrett Brown, who was in charge of the Steadicam on set, had registered the total number of takes for the one scene in The Shining as a record.
In another major film, there was a particularly expensive scene that ultimately fell victim to the cutting room floor:
