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Shelley Duvall

Why people hate Shelley Duvall in the Shining (including Stephen King and Kubrick) I guess she doesn't fit in their idea of a horror film scream queen.

Stephen King isn't a fan of the film and insulted Shelley Duvall's character because she wasn't similar to the blonde super model version in his book. Also, Kubrick verbally and emotionally abused Shelley during the filming

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by Anonymousreply 136October 16, 2018 6:56 PM

How did someone as homely as Shelley Duvall even manage to get a career as a leading lady?

by Anonymousreply 1October 11, 2018 7:21 PM

I’ve never heard people say they hate her in The Shining. That’s news to me.

by Anonymousreply 2October 11, 2018 7:23 PM

I can understand why people think she’s annoying, but I found her a sympathetic character. As a woman in that situation, she was trying to make the best of it. And she rallied at the end. Of the movie, anyway. I couldn’t get into the book.

by Anonymousreply 3October 11, 2018 7:27 PM

Kubrick specifically cast her as her looks didn't automatically generate sympathy from the beginning.

by Anonymousreply 4October 11, 2018 7:34 PM

I thought she was tremendous in The Shinning. Perfect in the role.

by Anonymousreply 5October 11, 2018 7:42 PM

ITA, R5 (except for your spelling. Unless that was a Simpsons reference.)

Perfect casting.

A hot, blonde supermodel *may* have put up with Jack’s shit, but Shelley looked like an abused push-over that would ignore her gut instincts in favor of her bully husband’s version of things.

She rallied in the end, but really, the kid had to save his own ass. Born to two emotional cripples.

by Anonymousreply 6October 11, 2018 7:52 PM

What I want to know is what messed up Shelley duvall so badly mentally? What happened to her? Did all her friends abandon her?

by Anonymousreply 7October 11, 2018 7:55 PM

She was the PERFECT Olive Oyl.

by Anonymousreply 8October 11, 2018 7:55 PM

I love her, too. But people who don't like her in that don't usually like the movie version at all.

My back story for her character is that she and Jack were dating and she got pregnant, so they got married. He doesn't seem happy in the relationship- or with his life in general- and she's trying to hold it all together. There are hints at his violent temper.

Some of her scenes are over the top and that's the director's fault. He wasn't really a people director.

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by Anonymousreply 9October 11, 2018 8:08 PM

Who in the world could hate Shelley Duvall? She was MISCAST in "The Shining"....that was the problem. An inexplicable decision made by famed auteur and super-genius Stanley Kubrick.

by Anonymousreply 10October 11, 2018 8:09 PM
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by Anonymousreply 11October 11, 2018 8:36 PM

She was always an odd-duck talent, who blossomed under Altman to give terrific performances in NASHVILLE, THIEVES LIKE US, and especially in 3 WOMEN. But she didn't fare as well with other directors. She's actually effective in THE SHINING up to a point - frankly, it's Nicholson's overacting that really hurts the film.

R9's point is well-taken as Kubrick and screenwriter Diane Johnson portray a very different family dynamic than King's characters. If you're not a purist, you can see the value of a different approach given that the film is more about the breakdown of a family already at the tipping point by the time they reach the Overlook. Unfortunately, having set up that dynamic, Kubrick just keeps hitting the same notes over and over and the scenes between Nicholson and Duvall become tiresome after a while.

by Anonymousreply 12October 11, 2018 8:37 PM

[quote]How did someone as homely as Shelley Duvall even manage to get a career as a leading lady?

It was the 1970s. From the late 60s through the 70s, off-beat looking actors and actresses were a thing.

by Anonymousreply 13October 11, 2018 8:43 PM

R13, Stanley Kauffman aptly noted that Altman had a fetish for ugly women so he gave actresses like Duvall more chances than they deserved.

And her performance may be admired today, but when it was released, her performance was widely derided, not only for her acting but her appearance. Early audiences thought it was a joke, like she was Morticia Addams or something.

In the end, her Wendy might have stayed with Nicholson, but no way would his Jack ever marry her Wendy.

by Anonymousreply 14October 11, 2018 8:54 PM

I love Shelley Duvall. And no, she wouldn’t be a star because of her looks in 2018. Our loss.

I have heard people fault her casting in The Shining because she’s so offbeat and odd, while they were looking for normalcy to counterbalance Nicholson when he goes off the deep end.

But I like seeing someone who seems like a real person. I miss that about film in the the seventies.

And I second the upthread praise for her in 3 Women.

by Anonymousreply 15October 11, 2018 8:56 PM

Hello.

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by Anonymousreply 16October 11, 2018 8:58 PM

r16, can you clarify for us who exactly that is in your video link?

by Anonymousreply 17October 11, 2018 9:02 PM

[quote]And her performance may be admired today, but when it was released, her performance was widely derided, not only for her acting but her appearance.

Audiences were very familiar with Shelly Duvall by the time the Shining was released.

"Three Women" got rave reviews as did Duvall's performance. She hosted SNL in the 70s...I remember her being well liked and considered cool.

Despite the initial reviews, the Shining was a commercial success.

by Anonymousreply 18October 11, 2018 9:08 PM

She is REALLY great in The Shining and lucky to have such a role in such a film. We'll always remember the great Shelley Duvall for a couple of good movies.

by Anonymousreply 19October 11, 2018 9:21 PM

45 years later you don't get her confused with ANY other actress the mark of a true original

by Anonymousreply 20October 11, 2018 9:23 PM

I always get Audrey Totter and Marie Windsor mixed up.

by Anonymousreply 21October 11, 2018 9:25 PM

She has taken a pretty effed up turn in life. So sad.

by Anonymousreply 22October 11, 2018 10:06 PM

R18 mainstream audiences were not familiar with her at all and "The Shining" was heavily marketed as a horror movie, which drew in a very different kind of crowd. One of the biggest laughs comes after Jack has his nightmare about killing the family and then suddenly looks at Wendy and says "ugh".

by Anonymousreply 23October 11, 2018 10:06 PM

Aside from some of the special effects, Duvall was one of the only good things about the film. Otherwise, the film sucked!

by Anonymousreply 24October 12, 2018 1:33 AM

I think with Duvall Kubrick was going for a very average looking everywoman. However he tended to cast 'movie stars' so you'd always be aware of the movie-ness of his work.

In one of the kitchen scenes she's preparing dinner, and as she empties an usually large—for three people that is—can of fruit cocktail into a bowl, she holds it against her stomach as it pours out. It's meant to look like her guts are pouring out.

Then there are the two shots with the knives pointing directly over Danny . . .

by Anonymousreply 25October 12, 2018 1:45 AM

Here we go again with the monster created by Robert Altman and the New Yorker. Nobody belonged in show business less than her. No wonder her life became such a tragedy. It's really the fault of the liars that said she should be an actress. 'Ol Pauline's "You go to her in delight, saying I'm yours" certainly belongs in Bartlett's.

by Anonymousreply 26October 12, 2018 1:47 AM

I'm not American, but I saw her in 3 Women and she was great! Loved that movie!

by Anonymousreply 27October 12, 2018 1:58 AM

She was perfect for the role in The Shining as a woman trying to hold it together while her husband quickly lost his grip. Can’t imagine a blonde supermodel doing the great portrayal she created, much less making her completely sympathetic for the audience.

by Anonymousreply 28October 12, 2018 2:00 AM

She was so wonderful in Three Women

by Anonymousreply 29October 12, 2018 2:04 AM

R23, as improbable as it seems Shelley Duvall was a star in the 70s.

by Anonymousreply 30October 12, 2018 2:09 AM

Of course she was miscast in 'The Shining." So was Jack Nicholson. Jack and Wendy Torrance were an attractive young couple. Duvall and Nicholson were older and much more unattractive. And their personalities were different too. Nicholson's Jack was crazy from the get go; in the novel Jack gradually becomes more and more insane as the hotel increases its hold on him. And Wendy was no whining, whimpering female; she was somewhat bitchy and had a lot of inner strength. What it comes down to is that Kubrick made "The Shining" HIS story, not Stephen King's. It was his vision, his ideas, not King's. Which is a major reason why King disliked the movie. Kubrick took his novel and changed it to fit his own viewpoint, which was definitely not King's.

by Anonymousreply 31October 12, 2018 2:23 AM

King disliked the casting because Kubrick cast actors that he thought stood in for Stephen and Tabitha King.

by Anonymousreply 32October 12, 2018 2:28 AM

This. Which makes sense since The Shining was basically about Stephen's alcoholism.

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by Anonymousreply 33October 12, 2018 2:30 AM

King tried to shift the biographical aspect away by making the couple really attractive, and making the child a boy. But their first child, Naomi, was not a boy, and she was the one who suffered when he was drinking.

by Anonymousreply 34October 12, 2018 2:37 AM

I love the Shining, both the movie and the book. The two are very different in a lot of ways, and I like both. R31 is correct in his description as to why they are different.

I seriously doubt Steven King hated Shelley Duvall, because of her looks anyway. It's the entire change of the character's depiction in the film vs. what he had written. It does change the story. Her not being a blonde supermodel type had nothing to do with it.

Sissy Spacek and Piper are hardly what anyone would call traditional glamour girls in the movie Carrie, but he was completely fine with that film adaptation.

R20 said it best.

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by Anonymousreply 35October 12, 2018 4:45 AM

^^ meant Piper Laurie

by Anonymousreply 36October 12, 2018 4:47 AM

r13 What the hell is that supposed to mean?

by Anonymousreply 37October 12, 2018 4:53 AM

Burr fucking roasts asshole Phil for his treatment of her.

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by Anonymousreply 38October 12, 2018 6:07 AM

Love Duvall in the shining. I mean you would never guess her character would survive so she does end up having an inner strength or at least a gut instinct that guides her in the right direction. I honesty can’t imagine someone like Farrah fawcett in that role. It would take on a whole different vibe and the vibe of the overlook is a lot of what makes the film work.

by Anonymousreply 39October 12, 2018 6:15 AM

Are you inferring wrote Carrie and Margaret as glamour girls, r35? Why in the world would those roles be cast as glamour girls? Not a good comparison.

by Anonymousreply 40October 12, 2018 2:33 PM

Are you inferring King wrote....

by Anonymousreply 41October 12, 2018 2:34 PM

Every actress can't be pretty.

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by Anonymousreply 42October 12, 2018 2:59 PM

[quote]King disliked the casting because Kubrick cast actors that he thought stood in for Stephen and Tabitha King.

I’ve read a lot about The Shining but never encountered this before. Don’t know whether it’s true, but it’s interesting.

by Anonymousreply 43October 12, 2018 3:12 PM

Duvall also had a small quirky part in Roxanne and she was really good. Movies in America are so bland and un-inventive in 2018. Superhero, comic book glut adnauseum. Trumps "money before everything" even in art.

by Anonymousreply 44October 12, 2018 3:24 PM

We had faces then.

by Anonymousreply 45October 12, 2018 3:27 PM

She stole the scene whenever she appeared in Nashville and Annie Hall. For all her goofy fragility, she had charisma. She was one of a kind.

by Anonymousreply 46October 12, 2018 3:42 PM

how would Talia Shire have fared in the role?

by Anonymousreply 47October 12, 2018 3:42 PM

Margot Kidder?

by Anonymousreply 48October 12, 2018 3:43 PM

Makes me sad whats become of her, I loved her look unique while not a bombshell. She was treated so poorly by Kubrick and Jack ass, she deserved better.

by Anonymousreply 49October 12, 2018 3:44 PM

She has a character actress face.

by Anonymousreply 50October 12, 2018 4:31 PM

[quote]She stole the scene whenever she appeared in Nashville and Annie Hall. For all her goofy fragility, she had charisma. She was one of a kind.

R23 Is trying to convince us that "mainstream audiences were not familiar with her at all " in 1980 when The Shining was released.

Nashville....Three Women...and why was she hosting Saturday Night Live if people had no idea who she was?

by Anonymousreply 51October 12, 2018 4:43 PM

R48 Margot did a variation on it in the Amityville Horror.

by Anonymousreply 52October 12, 2018 4:45 PM

[quote]In the end, her Wendy might have stayed with Nicholson, but no way would his Jack ever marry her Wendy.

He was an alcoholic loser who lost his job for roughing up a kid (not his own).

I live in the South and see young hot studs (usually) militray married to these obese cows with 3-4 kids (and growing).

Men marry women "beneath" them all the time. It is some form of stability for their fucked up lives.

by Anonymousreply 53October 12, 2018 4:53 PM

R51, she had supporting parts in those movies.

by Anonymousreply 54October 12, 2018 5:18 PM

[quote]she had supporting parts in those movies.

For "Three Women" she won best actress for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival...nominated for the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.

by Anonymousreply 55October 12, 2018 5:24 PM

I loved her in The Shining. I think her odd looks really added to the overall creepiness of the film. She has an expressive face which worked well during the climax of the film. I couldn't imagine a better actress at the time who would have been as effective in the role.

by Anonymousreply 56October 12, 2018 5:32 PM

I'm always surprised at how divisive her performance in The Shining is, my mother hates her in the film and I think she's terrific. I haven't read the book and probably won't--the last King novel I read was Carrie and that was when I was in the 8th grade and as an adult I don't really read from the horror genre--so I see the film as a stand alone project (also never saw the remake with Steven Weber) and think it's a terrific film. Like all Kubrick's films there isn't an ounce of warmth to be found, but I think that adds to the hovering sense of desolation and despair that runs throughout the film.

I like Duvall's portrayal of Wendy as needy with no sense of self-worth, which is why an asshole like Nicholson's character would marry her in the first place (he knows she won't ever challenge him and will basically worship the ground he walks on), and just as someone said up above, the audience's thought of why someone like him would be with someone like her works, because that's what he's thinking as well. Add to that the history of abuse with the son (and a lot of other stuff that is unsaid but can be read into by just what a shambles Duvall's character is from the start of the film) which I think makes the story that much more sinister. You know that he's done so much more to her and the kid that is never mentioned in the film.

by Anonymousreply 57October 12, 2018 5:51 PM

[quote](also never saw the remake with Steven Weber)

DON'T!

Plus the kid playing Danny is beyond fug.

by Anonymousreply 58October 12, 2018 5:54 PM

She was so fragile and odd that you actually worried for her character in ‘The Shining’. When she -did- rally there was actual suspense as to whether she’d be able to help herself and her son. That’s -amazing- casting and it must have been why she was included in the film. It’s an absolutely iconic performance and only grows in stature. Still talked about 40yrs later.

by Anonymousreply 59October 12, 2018 6:06 PM

Didn't Nicholson say out of all the catresses he had ever worked with, Shelley was the most deserving of an Oscar?

by Anonymousreply 60October 12, 2018 6:09 PM

"Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl is miscast in the role she was born to play."

~P. Kael

by Anonymousreply 61October 12, 2018 6:10 PM

And Scatman Crothers got the role of a lifetime, after toiling for years as third banana in sitcoms.

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by Anonymousreply 62October 12, 2018 6:14 PM

r58 Nails it! This little monster from the Young and the Restless was so hard to look at!

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by Anonymousreply 63October 12, 2018 6:17 PM

I have hated Kubrick ever since he killed off the Scatman character so unceremoniously in the movie. In the book, he's a hero.

by Anonymousreply 64October 12, 2018 6:20 PM

R55 and how many people saw Three Women? Awkwafina hosted SNL last week. Is she well known to the public?

by Anonymousreply 65October 12, 2018 6:21 PM

If you think little Danny using his finger to "talk" for Tony is ridiculous...

Just wait til you see a disembodied floating queen screaming "Don't go in there Danny!" at him.

by Anonymousreply 66October 12, 2018 6:22 PM

R51, what in my posts suggests that she was not popular with mainstream audiences? I was just commenting on her unusual appeal.

by Anonymousreply 67October 12, 2018 7:02 PM

I have this vague memory.....wasn't she the first attached to Even Cowgirls..., years before Uma?

by Anonymousreply 68October 12, 2018 7:09 PM

The Dr. Phil takedown at r38 was a delight.

Duvall merits a good biographer who could cover her career and well as her mental illness with a modicum of respect.

by Anonymousreply 69October 13, 2018 12:58 AM

R68 Good memory:

August 1980 Warner Bros. signs Shelley Duvall (Popeye) to write and star in Cowgirls, which she describes two years later as ”my Cuckoo’s Nest.”

by Anonymousreply 70October 13, 2018 1:01 AM

Her character is supposed to be a little dim. So is Jack, but people love the character and Nicholson so much they miss it. He's not a smart guy.

I love it, I felt the whole scenario made more sense when you realized these were everyday people making poor decisions, but that his wife and kid were stronger and better equipped and were able to survive.

by Anonymousreply 71October 13, 2018 1:03 AM

It has been alluded to above, but it only dawned on me recently that the weird pajama-looking garment that Duvall wears in her first scenes is most likely intended as an indication that she dresses to cover bruises.

by Anonymousreply 72October 13, 2018 1:14 AM

You all are reading far too much into the character. It's a one-dimensional role because Kubrick was a misogynist and conceived the role purely as "empty-headed screaming wife" and forced Shelley Duvall to play it that way. She did great work in the Altman movies and elsewhere.

I remember her hosting SNL - the musical guest was Joan Armatrading. SNL used to be worth watching.

by Anonymousreply 73October 13, 2018 1:22 AM

R43 I used to know the family.

by Anonymousreply 74October 13, 2018 1:46 AM

Believing she's too ugly for the role is a really 2018 thing to think. She was always believable and I really can't imagine anyone else as Wendy.

by Anonymousreply 75October 13, 2018 2:13 AM

Sondra Locke is another one who would never make it today. The 70s were really a golden age for character actors.

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by Anonymousreply 76October 13, 2018 2:18 AM

Now THERE’s a face I haven’t seen in a long time, holy shite! Isn’t she from Dirty Harry? I distinctly remember her being in a dime store being harassed by a gross man and she grabbed him by the balks, literally. It impressed me as a kid.

by Anonymousreply 77October 13, 2018 2:24 AM

Sondra was nominated for Best Actress in 1968 for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. She gave up a promising career to be Clint Eastwood's side piece.

by Anonymousreply 78October 13, 2018 2:27 AM

R76 = Clint Eastwood

by Anonymousreply 79October 13, 2018 2:34 AM

But Sondra wasn't very good and I thought Shelley in her heyday was way better looking. That anemic blonde Dakota and Elle Fanning look is not one I like. Yeah, Sondra could still act with that look. She was like the poor man's Sally Kellerman.

by Anonymousreply 80October 13, 2018 2:36 AM

Sondra Locke directed the feverishly perverse and disturbing/pathetic ‘Ratboy’. She was nominated supporting for that movie mentioned above.. anyway. Remember her from Dirty Harry? I wish. I remember flipping channels and she was getting fucking gang raped on a train box car. Ripping shirt off, tittys flying out. It was terrible. Have no clue what movie. Clint came in and broke it up after a few minutes but it was sickening. Just a straight up rape lol.

by Anonymousreply 81October 13, 2018 2:56 AM

Love Shelley in Altman's "3 Women"

by Anonymousreply 82October 13, 2018 3:03 AM

Yikes I didn’t remember that rape scene, just the ball grabbing.

by Anonymousreply 83October 13, 2018 3:31 AM

Oh yeah, the rape scene! Another reason she just seems seedy to me. Those Dirty Harry movies and the first "Assault on Precinct 13" scared the shit out of young me but I loved them.

by Anonymousreply 84October 13, 2018 3:47 AM

I like Sondra. She's a friend to the gays.

by Anonymousreply 85October 13, 2018 3:52 AM

Oh good, the annual Shelley Duvall in The Shining thread!

by Anonymousreply 86October 13, 2018 3:58 AM

I believe we're discussing 'Shelley Duvall.'

by Anonymousreply 87October 13, 2018 3:58 AM

[quote]Who in the world could hate Shelley Duvall? She was MISCAST in "The Shining"....that was the problem.

It depends on what you mean by "miscast." IIRC, Wendy in the book was a typical generic "plucky" attractive blonde who immediately takes charge as soon as things go to shit and has a decent head on her shoulders. So if you mean Duvall was miscast in the sense that she was nothing like her, I agree.

But was she miscast in Kubrick's vision of The Shining? No. Kubrick wanted to make a terrifying movie (instead of just a cheap supernatural thriller), and she is a large part of the reason why it is so effective. It seems to me that Kubrick realized that if he had cast someone who looked and acted like "Book Wendy", that entire last act would've lacked tension. For example, imagine if someone like Nancy Allen had been cast. She would've played Wendy well but nobody would've really been on the edge of their seats when Jack goes on a rampage because it's become expected that the hot blonde lead actress will always survive.

Shelley Duvall was so cast against type (geeky, awkward, helpless, unfashionable and looked like she was totally out of her depth the entire time) that you had no idea what the hell would happen to her the entire time. That's because she didn't fit the mold of a survivor. You had to constantly keep guessing. I haven't watched The Shining in ages but there was a time when I'd watch the movie annually around Halloween and no matter how many times I saw it, I'd always be on the edge of my seat expecting Jack to just splatter her brains or feel a genuine sense of surprise when she rescues Danny and saves herself. She looks and plays the role of a dumb cluck so well that it always impresses me that she was able to get out of that situation alive.

And I actually have a major dose of respect for her in the end as a "heroine" because she really fucking earns it. To put it another way, her heroism wasn't "cheap" in the way it would've been had a different actress playing "plucky blonde Wendy". Shelley Duvall's version of Wendy starts out completely helpless and scared out of her wits looking like she's about to just give up any minute, but then somehow manages to find something within herself to survive. And that comes across as more powerful than had it played out the way everyone wanted it--ya know, already two steps ahead of Jack right off the bat and never really breaks a sweat.

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by Anonymousreply 88October 13, 2018 4:07 AM

[quote][R13], Stanley Kauffman aptly noted that Altman had a fetish for ugly women so he gave actresses like Duvall more chances than they deserved.

*sighs*

I know Shelley Duvall has buck teeth and bug eyes and went out of her way to look weird later in life, but she was actually a model when she was younger.

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by Anonymousreply 89October 13, 2018 4:16 AM

The TV version with Steven Weber was true to the book and I prefer it over the movie.

by Anonymousreply 90October 13, 2018 4:19 AM

I always thought Sissy Spacek was weird looking too.

by Anonymousreply 91October 13, 2018 4:20 AM

In the 70s Altman liked to cast actors who weren't conventional Hollywood types. E.g., Marta Heflin & Paul Dooley as the leads in "A Perfect Couple". If, like Duvall and Spacek, they could act well, who cares?

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by Anonymousreply 92October 13, 2018 4:31 AM

[quote]I always thought Sissy Spacek was weird looking too.

She does look weird, but only because she fucked up her nose like Nanette Fabray. I call her the Hillbilly Space Alien.

by Anonymousreply 93October 13, 2018 12:10 PM

[quote] R1: How did someone as homely as Shelley Duvall even manage to get a career as a leading lady?

This made her perfect for the role. You immediately feel sorry for someone so helpless and homely. Also, while homely, I didn’t find her repulsive. Just more of a “Maryanne” girl next door type.

by Anonymousreply 94October 13, 2018 12:44 PM

I always thought Duvall had a very intriguing look, myself. She does herself no favors looks-wise in "The Shining" (and was very brave to do so), but Altman used her in ways that brought out a unique allure.

Pauline Kael noted that she was actually fetching as Olive Oyl.

by Anonymousreply 95October 13, 2018 12:48 PM

Her voice and her accent were kind of annoying. I remember critics mentioning that but overall she depicted her situation really well. I liked the way she revealed the horror of the gradual breakdown of her marriage and her husband's mental state. You felt her isolations and desperation. Is it true she was a model in the 70's?

by Anonymousreply 96October 13, 2018 1:04 PM

Well said R88

by Anonymousreply 97October 13, 2018 1:05 PM

R73, even if that was Kubrick's intent with the character of Wendy--and I have yet to find evidence that that was the case--to presume that the director's intent and interpretation of 'how' a film (or a performance for that matter) should be interpreted is the 'only true and correct interpretation', is a rather flimsy critical stance. 'Authorial intent' and 'Auteur theory' are rather antiquated and limited traditions of criticism and what a director 'intends' for an audience to take from a film and what an audience actually does are two distinctive things which sometimes coalesce but frequently do not.

by Anonymousreply 98October 13, 2018 1:26 PM

Well, pardon me while I play the grand piano.

by Anonymousreply 99October 13, 2018 1:32 PM

They should remake the Shining with Lens Dunham in the Shirley Duvale role.

by Anonymousreply 100October 13, 2018 1:42 PM

Shirley you jest

by Anonymousreply 101October 13, 2018 1:48 PM

No, I don't, and don't ever call me Shirley again.

by Anonymousreply 102October 13, 2018 1:50 PM

Sondra can get her own thread.

by Anonymousreply 103October 13, 2018 1:53 PM

I know duvall didn't get along with Kubrick, but what was her relationship with Altman?

by Anonymousreply 104October 13, 2018 3:04 PM

[quote] It's a one-dimensional role because Kubrick was a misogynist and conceived the role purely as "empty-headed screaming wife" and forced Shelley Duvall to play it that way.

You're such a halfwit. My God.

Movie Version Wendy was clearly married to a domestic abuser who has been both mentally and physically abusive towards them for many years, so she and Danny have been walking on egg shells around, terrified of setting him off. . It's not even subtly conveyed. (Nobody ever "accidentally" breaks their child's arm in a fit of rage as a one off. That is an indication of a very long history of violence.)

When Jack starts screaming at her during the "All work and no play" scene, people always think, "Oh, that's the demons making him do that." NO. The demons made him type that bullshit on the typewriter, but that threatening tirade he does after was all him, acting out in a way he's done so many times throughout their marriage before threatening/assaulting Wendy or Danny. That's how the abuse of always starts, accusations and tirades.

She starts crying and acting helpless after he goes off because that's what all victims do when their abusers start going off. They start to anticipate the violence or mentally abusive tirade that will come soon after and respond with helplessness and crying and shrinking back because they're thinking, "Oh, no. Not again. He's going to hit me again," or "Oh, no. He's been threatening to kill me for so long that he might do it this time."

So your assertion that "Kubrick was a misogynist and conceived the role purely as empty-headed screaming wife and forced Shelley Duvall to play it that way" is just asinine. It makes me even wonder if you actually watched the film.

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by Anonymousreply 105October 13, 2018 3:26 PM

Shelley Duvall lives in Blanco, Texas - a town one hour west of Austin in the Hill Country - as a recluse . She's become the town "lunatic" and many of the small town folks treat her like she's completely crazy. And she does seem to have issues but she's not crazy. I've seen her in Blanco and I've talked to her a couple of times. She asks all the people she meets to "call me Shelley". I get the sense that her life is devoid of meaningful relationships and human contact. I think the National Enquirer kinda took advantage of her a few years ago and now she's more wary than ever of people trying to get close to her.

I have a weekend home in the Hill Country so that's why/how I know all this stuff.

by Anonymousreply 106October 13, 2018 3:29 PM

The Duvall defenders do sound an awful lot like the conspiracy theorists in "Room 237". Nothing more to see but an ugly performer.

by Anonymousreply 107October 13, 2018 3:33 PM

But let's face it, the moviegoing public threw her off the screen.

by Anonymousreply 108October 13, 2018 3:33 PM

R104 In this 2011 interview she has good things to say about Kubrick and Altman. She had her ups and downs with both, but doesn't portray herself as Kubrick's victim.

CS: Much has been said about your tumultuous relationship with Stanley Kubrick on the set; in retrospect what was it like working with the man?

Duvall: Oh, Stanley really gets a bad reputation sometimes but he was a perfectionist. We had our moments when we laughed and joked around on set, but then there were times that we just exploded at each other! I’m a very stubborn person and don’t like being bossed around and told what to do, Stanley pushed and pushed to get the performance out of me that he wanted. The script wasn’t really specific enough for me to understand what my character was going through mentally, I played it out as a battered but loving housewife who supports her husband through all the sh*t in their marriage. Stanley wanted a tough, strong, independent woman, I disagreed with that decision, but the way all my scenes worked out you see all those emotions in my character. What I thought my character should be and what he thought my character should be rolled into one. It was a hell of a shoot but he got what he wanted out of me!

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by Anonymousreply 109October 13, 2018 3:37 PM

R81, it wasn't Dirty Harry, it was The Gauntlet. The scene is where three hippies (it was a Clint Eastwood movie remember) are in a boxcar and begin beating up Eastwood. Locke calls them a bunch of fags and then opens her blouse to distract them, one of whom is a dyke. Eastwood unties himself and then throws each one off the train. You can imagine what he does to the dyke. Here is the scene in Spanish.

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by Anonymousreply 110October 13, 2018 3:38 PM

People, all this “they were miscast” “people thought this” blah, blah, blah - it’s Stanley Fucking Kubrick’s The Shining for fuck’s sake. You’re still talking about it nearly 40 fucking years later because it’s a goddamn classic.

Shelley Duvall was the personification of pure terror in that film. She’s as brilliant as anything else in the film.

And Stephen King can go fuck himself because I’ve seen the film It and It Sucked.

by Anonymousreply 111October 13, 2018 3:43 PM

Can Sondra please fuck off to her own thread??

by Anonymousreply 112October 13, 2018 3:48 PM

Not hippies, R110, some kind of motorcycle gang types.

by Anonymousreply 113October 13, 2018 4:52 PM

Lol thanks for posting the scene in Spanish. That used to play during the day on Cinemax or whatever and I was maybe 8 years old when I caught that. It was like ‘wtf’?! The dyke is punched lol.

by Anonymousreply 114October 13, 2018 6:17 PM

R114, she says to Clint "You wouldn't hit a lady, would you", which makes the payoff that much more hilarious.

by Anonymousreply 115October 13, 2018 6:23 PM

Sondra aged well.

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by Anonymousreply 116October 13, 2018 7:12 PM

Gilda Radner and Dustin Hoffman were originally slated to play Olive Oyl and Popeye.

by Anonymousreply 117October 13, 2018 10:17 PM

R117, no it was Lily Tomlin. Radner's name came up when Williams was attached.

by Anonymousreply 118October 13, 2018 10:20 PM

Whoever said she’s not really crazy is stupid. It’s schizophrenia.

by Anonymousreply 119October 14, 2018 1:46 AM

Her performance in 3 women was one of the best in female acting.

by Anonymousreply 120October 14, 2018 2:01 AM

R119 or Alzheimer’s or dementia.. Schizophrenia usually has onset in the late teens.

by Anonymousreply 121October 14, 2018 2:02 AM

Is anyone going to say anything about that long piece of ash at the end of her cigarette (OP photo)?

by Anonymousreply 122October 14, 2018 3:10 AM

Watch the Shining docu with those whack jobs. They certainly have something to say about it.

by Anonymousreply 123October 14, 2018 3:21 AM

I thought she was great. She played the damaged wife well. There seemed something off about her which added to the atmosphere, now we know why I guess

by Anonymousreply 124October 14, 2018 3:36 AM

She got to me a catalogue model (far from a cover girl) because she was tall and eating disorder skinny - the same can be said for many models of today.

The 70s equivalent of hipsters wrote fawning articles on her (and I’m sure she had an aggressive publicist at one point) trying to make her happen, in this too cool for school kind of way (oooh I’m so edgy, I’m a Shelley Duvall fan), but audiences couldn’t have given a f - probably because there’s a difference between off beat endearing and off beat annoying. Sometimes the PR machine fails miserably at foisting an actor or personality onto the general public.

And yes I get that there were many leading and supporting actresses of the 70s who were not conventionally beautiful, but definitely attractive/pretty. Shelley Duvall was not one of them.

by Anonymousreply 125October 14, 2018 8:58 AM

Shelly was cast as she was portrayed in the book as an "everywoman" I don't recall her in the book as being some hot piece of ass, although King always did love to talk about the legs on his wife in real life and as she was portrayed in however character in his books.

by Anonymousreply 126October 14, 2018 9:11 AM

[quote]but audiences couldn’t have given a f - probably because there’s a difference between off beat endearing and off beat annoying. Sometimes the PR machine fails miserably at foisting an actor or personality onto the general public.

So you're speaking for "the public"?

I remember her being well liked and critics praising her work.

by Anonymousreply 127October 14, 2018 9:23 AM

r126 No she was described as hot, and a blonde, I remember the total disparity and being outraged by it when I read the Shining in my teens.

by Anonymousreply 128October 14, 2018 6:57 PM

I thought she was great in 'The Shining' and brilliant in '3 Women.' She deserved the 1977 Best Actress Oscar for the latter.

And, to be honest, I much prefer interesting, unique faces like Duvall's to blandly pretty ones.

by Anonymousreply 129October 14, 2018 7:04 PM

She lost it kind of late in life. What's up with that? Early dementia? It's not schizophrenia.

by Anonymousreply 130October 14, 2018 7:50 PM

She's seriously mentally ill poor thing. The way she was mistreated no doubt contributed. Probably bipolar.

by Anonymousreply 131October 14, 2018 8:03 PM

R114 R115 enjoying a gay bashing scene. Jeebus, some fucked up people here.

by Anonymousreply 132October 14, 2018 8:28 PM

Nene Leaks and Lil' Wayne were originally scheduled to play Olive Oyl and Popeye.

by Anonymousreply 133October 16, 2018 1:58 PM

R132, the dyke beats the shit out of Clint when he's tied up. Hence the punch in the face.

by Anonymousreply 134October 16, 2018 4:17 PM

No mention of "Faerie Tale Theatre"? She used whatever clout and money she had to produce something truly innovative and won the cooperation of the day's biggest stars. She had a lot going for her at her peak.

I'm sorry she's not on the scene anymore. Hollywood is dead.

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by Anonymousreply 135October 16, 2018 6:09 PM

Yes r135, if you go up you will see her impressive "Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall" compilation.

by Anonymousreply 136October 16, 2018 6:56 PM
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