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, had a profound effect on Duvall.
Due to her eccentric personality and large brown eyes in the 1980s, Duvall stood out and gave off an elflike appearance. The 73-year-old has changed significantly since 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 encouraged to try out for Brewster McCloud by M*A*S*H director Robert Altman and three of his close friends. She fell for the bait despite having no acting experience, and shortly after, she received praise for her subsequent performance in Altman’s 3 Women (1977).
The newcomer caught the attention of Hollywood and went on to make appearances in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977), Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), and Time Bandits (1981). She also created and hosts the fantastical programs Tall Tales and Legends, for which she was nominated for an Emmy, and The Faerie Tale Theater.
The Torrances and their young son Danny are the main characters of Stephen King’s novel adaptation The Shining. In the Rocky Mountains, they spend the winter caring for a grand, abandoned hotel that isn’t open to visitors right now but is still inhabited by the ghosts of those the previous caretaker killed.
After experiencing visions of the terrifying creatures that stalk the hotel, Jack’s mental stability declines, putting Wendy and their young child in danger as he spirals into madness.
Duvall’s mental state was deteriorating even when no one was looking. Her struggles helped her become the tortured Wendy in The Shining.
In 1974, Duvall’s first marriage broke up. After introducing him to a friend who would soon become famous for playing Princess Leia in the first Star Wars film, Carrie Fisher, she broke up with musician Paul Simon.
After two years of living together, Duvall and Simon broke up at the airport just before she boarded a plane to start filming The Shining. Simon and the late Fisher began dating soon after, and they eventually got married.
Duvall was under pressure to uphold the legendary Kubrick’s exceptionally high standards while still dealing with the emotional toll of her breakup. It’s well known that Kubrick was a perfectionist.
A scene starring a young Danny Lloyd featured 148 takes, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, breaking the previous mark for the most takes in a single scene.
The well-known stairwell scene in which Robert Duvall’s character swings a bat at actor Nicholson was completed in 127 takes to meet Kubrick’s standards.
It was difficult; the scene took three weeks to film, Duvall continued. ”.
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”.
Jack Nicholson asserted that Stanley Kubrick was “a different director” while working with Robert Duvall on the movie Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. ”. 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. He has since lost the endearing elfin glint.
She added that it was at least the 35th take before Kubrick printed anything. Your body will eventually rebel. Stop torturing me in this way, it cries. ”. I don’t want to cry all the time. I would occasionally start crying just thinking about it. ”.
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. ”. In spite of that, I did it. I have no idea how I managed it. Jack also shared with me a story. How you do it, I have no idea. ’”.
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. The woman agreed. She was really brave, in my opinion.
However, Duvall is all praise for the illustrious director. She noted that he was very hospitable and friendly to me. ”.
Despite being a nominee for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, she became famous.
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. She also appeared briefly in Roxanne (1987) and had a minor role in Manna from Heaven (2002), both of which starred Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.
Her appearance on Dr. Phil McGraw, who used her interview as a case study, caused her to withdraw and return to her quiet life 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 obvious that her mental health was out of whack.
Then, recalling her former beauty, she referred to herself as “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. Vivian Kubrick, the late Kubrick’s daughter, lambasted Phil on Twitter. She referred to it as “exploitative” and “a lurid form of entertainment”. “I cringe in utter disgust,” she wrote. I’m hoping others will agree with me in denouncing your obscene amusement.
In his return to the big screen, Duvall appears in the 2023 horror movie The Forest Hills.
Without Nicholson and Duvall, The Shining would be quite different. We are amazed by actors’ tenacity because their love of acting allows them to inhabit a character fully.
Duvall’s mental health deserves to get better, and we wish her well.
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