Few movie sets in Hollywood history have generated more interest than the Overlook Hotel from Stanley Kubrick‘s “The Shining.” The fictional Colorado hotel provides the backdrop for Jack Torrance’s (Jack Nicholson) descent into madness, and Kubrick devotees have spent countless hours analyzing symbolism in the production design and the disorienting effects created by the hotel’s impossible floor plan. The hotel sets, hailed by many as some of the defining craftsmanship of Kubrick’s filmmaking career, now get their moment in the spotlight in a new documentary set to be released on the late director’s birthday.
Produced in partnership with the Stanley Kubrick Film Archive and the director’s estate, “Shine On — The Forgotten ‘Shining’ Location” dives into Kubrick’s process of scouting locations for the film and working with his design team to bring his vision to life. Narrated by Martin Sheen and directed by Paul King, the YouTube documentary features interviews with the film’s art director Les Tomkins, producer Jan Harlan, and Stanley’s daughter Katharina Kubrick. The film will see the collaborators revisiting some of the last remaining studio sets from “The Shining,” which were thought to have been destroyed years ago.
“There have been so many rumors about some of the sets from ‘The Shining’ still existing at Elstree Studios, but to actually find them and walk around them was like discovering a holy grail of film history,” King said in a statement announcing the film.
More than four decades years after its initial release, “The Shining” continues to fascinate film scholars of all stripes. “Room 237,” Rodney Ascher’s controversial documentary about various interpretations of the film, was released in 2012. And in 2023, Pixar veteran Lee Unkrich released a massive three-volume book about the making of the film titled “Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining.’”
“Shine On — The Forgotten ‘Shining’ Location” will be released on Stanley Kubrick’s official YouTube channel on Friday, July 26. Watch the trailer below.
