Thirty-five years since its release, The Shining received a special anniversary screening yesterday, with an introduction from cinema’s most uncanny kid, Danny Lloyd (all grown up) and a Q&A moderated by the film’s most passionate – and unlikely – fan, Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich.
Unkrich presided over a panel that included co-writer Diane Johnson and executive producer Jan Harlan, while the audience contained more than 25 crew from Stanley Kubrick’s iconic horror. Organised by The Elstree Project, which interviews cast and crew who have worked on films at the studios at Elstree and Borehamwood, it was a touching day of reminiscences and insights.
Unkrich joined several of the crew on a tour of Elstree before the screening at the Odyssey Cinema in St. Albans – providing more fuel for a book he is working on about the picture. “I feel so privileged because I’ve been obsessed with this film since I was 12,” he said. “I was pinching myself to be at Elstree and walk around where these moments happened, where these scenes were filmed.”Lloyd – who is now a teacher in Kentucky – was unable to attend, but recorded a video introduction which recalled the shoot with affection and laid to rest the rumour that he only acted once more because he had a bad experience on The Shining.
“I know that I’ve kept a low profile and some people say it’s because I didn’t like the movie or I didn’t like the process of making the movie, and that’s definitely not true,” he said, while bouncing one of his own children on his knee. “I wanted to set the record straight and say that I really enjoyed that experience and you guys - the crew and everybody - was like family to us while we were over there.”
Odyssey Screening event with the support of Warner Bros. Entertainment Ltd & Odyssey Cinema.
Photography by iwastherephotography & Warner Bros. Entertainment Ltd.