Stephen King revealed that he liked the miniseries version of Shining more than the film adaptation.
Stephen Edward King is an American author known for his fantastic writing style in the genre of suspense, horror, crime, supernatural fiction, and fantasy. He is also known as “King of Horror.” King has so far published 61 novels, including seven novels under the pen name Richard Bachman. The author has received many awards, including Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, and British Fantasy Society Awards. He has also received the 2004 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2007 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America to contribute to literature for his bibliography. King’s Shining was published in 1977. It was his third published book. His personal experience inspires the characters and the setting of the novel. The book was adapted for the first time in 1980 by Stanley Kubrick. It stars Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Jack Nicholson, and Danny Lloyd.
The plot of the book revolves around the fictional hotel Overlook. It is an isolated and haunted resort in the Colorado Rockies. The backstory of the hotel consists of the death of some of its guests and former winter caretaker, Delbert Grady.
One day Jack Torrance goes to that hotel with his wife Wendy and five years old son Danny. Jack is an aspiring writer and a recovering alcoholic. The novel then explores the experience of violent chaos and horrific history at the remote mountain lodge.
The novel gained popularity due to the adaptation of Kubrick’s film. After almost two decades, the book was adapted to a TV miniseries. King closely monitored the miniseries. The series consists of only three episodes directed by Mick Garris. It stars Rebecca De Mornay, Steven, Weber, Wil Horneff, Melvin Van Peebles, and Courtland Mead. The miniseries received critical appreciation for the makeup, depth, pacing, creepy atmosphere, and sound editing. It won two Saturn Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. However, the miniseries underwent few changes due to cinematic limitations. King now openly shared his negative feelings towards Kubrick’s adaptation.
During a recent hybrid interview with the New York Times about King’s cinematic adaptation, the author shared his views about the 1980s adaptation. The writer did not like the film The Shining because of the change in the character arc of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson named in the movie). According to King’s perspective in the novel, Torrance slowly moves towards the behavior of madness, while Kubrick’s Nicholson jumps into the “craziness.” King said he admires Kubrick’s work as a director. However, he did not like his vision in the film The Shining. Instead, the award-winning author favors the 1997 miniseries more, as the show has explored the character more accurately. King is very clear with his protagonist’s journey. He explains, Jack knew what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to express love towards his family, but the hotel overwhelms his overall morality.
It might be hard to listen to Kubrick’s fans’ criticism, the director who has created some impressive adaptations in his career. Still, it is not surprising that King did not like the adapted version; many of his novels have faced poor adaptations.
King feels the miniseries showed the characters’ complexities, and the character was more close to that of the novel. Other writers could learn something from King’s experience and might feel miniseries adaptations are more appropriate for the screen and audience.
However, Kubrick’s The Shining got a positive response from critics, and it became a pop-culture staple. The film collected a gross of $47 million against a budget of $19 million.
Source-Stephen King Prefers The 90s Shining Miniseries Than Kubrick’s Film
