Actress Shelley Duvall, who battles anxiety, claimed that after taking on a demanding role in the late Stanley Kubrick’s movie, her mental health had gotten worse.
In a 2016 appearance on Dr. Phil, Duvall displayed her unstable mental state by asserting that her Popeye co-star Robin Williams is not dead but rather “shape-shifting,” that she is being threatened by “the sheriff of Nottingham,” among other ramblings that included a cry for help.
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The concepts in Jack Nicholson’s psychological thriller The Shining—in which Robert Duvall portrayed Wendy, the rapacious Jack Torrance—were so horrifying that they had an effect on Duvall.
Duvall was unique, eccentric, and almost elflike in the 1980s with her big brown eyes and small frame. The 73-year-old is no longer recognisable after taking a break from acting in Hollywood.
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Duvall unintentionally launched her acting career at a party she threw with her then-boyfriend in junior college.
She was urged to go on the Brewster McCloud audition by three of his close friends, including M*A*S*H director Robert Altman. She didn’t have any acting experience, but she gave in to the pressure, and soon after she was honored for her subsequent performance in Altman’s 3 Women (1977).
The newcomer caught the attention of Hollywood and went on to appear in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), Time Bandits (1981), and Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977). She also developed and hosted the fantastical programs Tall Tales and Legends, for which she was nominated for an Emmy, and The Faerie Tale Theater.
A married couple named the Torrances and their young son Danny are the main characters of Stephen King’s novel adaptation The Shining. They spend the winter in the Rocky Mountains caring for a grand, remote hotel that is currently empty but is still inhabited by the ghosts of those the previous caretaker killed.
Jack’s mental stability declines as a result of seeing the horrifying creatures that stalk the hotel, putting Wendy and their young child in danger as he spirals into madness.
Duvall’s mental condition was getting worse even when no one was looking. She became the tortured Wendy in The Shining thanks in part to her struggles.
Duvall’s first marriage ended in 1974. After introducing him to Carrie Fisher, a friend who would later become famous for playing Princess Leia in the first Star Wars film, she broke up with musician Paul Simon.
Duvall and Simon split up at the airport shortly before she boarded a plane to begin filming The Shining after two years of cohabitating. Simon and the late Fisher began dating soon after, and they eventually got married.
Due to the breakup’s emotional toll, Duvall felt under pressure to uphold the legendary Kubrick’s exceptionally high standards. Kubrick was known for being a perfectionist.
For a scene starring a young Danny Lloyd, Kubrick used 148 takes, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, setting a record for the most takes in a single scene.
The well-known stairwell scene, in which Duvall’s character swings a bat at Nicholson, required 127 takes to complete to Kubrick’s standards.
Duvall continued, “It was hard, it took three weeks to shoot that scene”.
Although it was a difficult scene, Duvall felt that it was one of the best in the film because Jack was “so good-so damn scary”.
When working with Duvall on the movie Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Jack Nicholson asserted that Kubrick was a “different director”.
Nicholson claims that Kubrick repeatedly retaliated against Duvall by showing him hair clumps that were falling out as a result of the strain of filming that particular scene, People reports.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter from 2021, Duvall discussed the emotional and physical toll of playing Wendy. His adorable elfin glint has since vanished.
She went on to say that Kubrick didn’t print anything until at least the 35th take. Eventually, your body will rebel. Stop torturing me like this, the voice cries. ”. I don’t wish to constantly cry.
Occasionally, the thought of it would cause me to cry”.
Shelley Duvall’s disappearance from public view is a horrifying tale.
“When I woke up that early on a Monday, I would immediately begin crying if I learned that I had to cry all day because it was planned. My old phrase was, “Oh no, I can’t, I can’t”.
It was still done by me.
How I managed it is beyond me. Jack also revealed something to me. I have no idea how you do it”.
At the time the movie was being made, Anjelica Huston, a talented actress and director, was seeing Jack Nicholson and sharing a home with him. She went into detail about Shelley’s struggles with dealing with the emotional undertone of the piece and the lack of empathy displayed by the audience. She agreed to it. I thought she was really brave.
Duvall, on the other hand, is all acclaim for the celebrated director. She noticed that he was very friendly and welcoming to me. ”.
She rose to fame despite being a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress nominee.
She told People in 1981 that you are a star when someone recognizes you at a Dairy Queen in Texas. ”.
Together with the late Robin Williams, Duvall played Olive Oyl in the movie Popeye. In addition, she had a minor part in the Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah-starring films Roxanne (1987) and Manna from Heaven (2002).
After being interviewed on Dr. Phil McGraw, who used her appearance as a case study, she withdrew and returned to living quietly in her small Texas town.
Duvall spoke of recent struggles and expressed paranoid delusions of being harmed, flitting between reality and fantasy and making it clear that her mental health was out of whack.
She remembered how beautiful she had once been and then called herself “grotesque.”. ”.
On McGraw’s recommendation, she was flown to California for medical treatment, resulting in a brief police encounter that detractors claim should have happened closer to her home.
Dr. On Twitter, Vivian Kubrick, the late Kubrick’s daughter, criticized Phil. She referred to it as “exploitative” and “a vile form of entertainment”.
“I cringe in utter disgust,” she wrote. I hope you’ll join me in denouncing your obscene amusement.
In the 2023 horror movie The Forest Hills, Duvall makes a comeback to the big screen.
If Nicholson and Duvall weren’t involved, The Shining would be very different. We are in awe of actors’ tenacity because their passion for acting allows them to fully inhabit a character.
We wish Duvall well and hope her mental health gets better.
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