Jay Weidner

Secrets of The Shining:

Or How Faking the Moon Landings Nearly
Cost Stanley Kubrick his Marriage and his Life.

By Jay Weidner

page 3

It is true, Danny did get hurt because of Jack. Danny is the side of Stanley that knew of Stanley's secret project. Somehow he got into a situation where they (The Overlook Hotel - America) hurt him.

After this Jack begins to go to hell physically. He is growing an unkempt beard and is not combing his hair - two things that Stanley Kubrick was known for doing, or not doing, himself.

Now Jack (Nicholson) is looking a lot like Stanley Kubrick. Especially as he began to appear under the stress of the twin productions going on at once: (1), 2001: A Space Odyssey and (2), faking the Apollo 11 landings. It should also be noted that Jack and Stanley are about the same age and they have the same hair color.

Early 2001: A Space Odysey Production photos show a youthful and un-bearded Kubrick with combed hair, looking quite handsome. But photos taken four years later - near the end of the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey - show that Kubrick was a physical wreck. The de-evolution of Stanley Kubrick's appearance during the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey is disturbingly close to Jack Torrance's (Jack Nicholson's) appearance in The Shining.

Despite his disheveled appearance Jack has started writing again.

Wendy, (who is really supposed to be Kubrick's wife Christina), wants to read the book that Jack is working so furiously on. She asks to see what he is writing. Jack is surprised by her entrance into the room where he does his writing. Angrily he rejects her. He tells her to stay out of the room where he is writing.

It is clear that Wendy, Kubrick's wife, is not allowed to know anything about the Project.

But what is this book that Jack is writing?

Wendy soon finds out what is in the book that Jack is writing. It is then that we get the clincher that proves that this essay is the correct interpretation of Kubrick's The Shining.

Wendy sneaks into Jack's writing room. Slowly she begins to read the book that Jack has been working on.

This scene is totally original to the movie. It is not in the King novel. Although it is mildly terrifying, it is not that horrific. Yet it is the centerpiece of the film and arguably the scariest scene in the movie.

Why?

Because every single one of the hundreds of pages that Jack has been furiously writing is a variation of only one sentence:

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".

Incredibly every page has this exact sentence. And it is written over and over. Truly it is scary enough to think that Jack has just been sitting there, day after day, writing the same sentence, over and over. Wendy face reveals her fear over the discovery.

What does it all mean?

May I humbly suggest that the word "All" in this repeated sentence actually stands for "A11" that is: "A-One-One", or Apollo 11?

"A11 work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

May I suggest that the nickname, or the code name, for the faking of the Apollo Moon Missions was A11?

Accepting that this is true we can see what Stanley is really telling us:

'"Apollo 11 work and no play makes Jack (Kubrick) a dull boy."

If you think that I am stretching things here I would like to point out the patch that NASA had created to symbolize the Apollo program:

There are other 'A's' in the film also. The Overlook Hotel has several A's' built into its construction when viewed from the outside:

Stanley has used these A's before also. Here is the cover of A Clockwork Orange with Alex menacingly coming out of the 'A' with his all-seeing-eye cufflink:

It is clear from the evidence presented in the film that Kubrick's wife (Shelly Duval) had discovered that he (Stanley Kubrick) had made a secret deal with the Manager of the Overlook, (i.e.) with the rulers of the USA.

Shelly Duval (Christina Kubrick) also discovered that what she thought was one thing actually turned out to be another. What Mrs. Kubrick discovered was that - instead of making a science fiction film called 2001: A Space Odyssey - her husband was really working to create the fake Apollo moon landings.

At this point the film finally gets really interesting. Frightened by this revelation Wendy (Stanley's wife) wants Jack (Stanley) to quit the Project.

Jack (Stanley) angrily replies: "That is so typical of you! … I've made an agreement … I have obligations to my employers!"

Danny uses The Shining to contact Dick Halorann in Florida (which I might add is where Apollo 11 was launched). Dick laboriously travels from Florida to Colorado.

In another abrupt break with the novel, Jack Torrance kills Halorann as soon as he arrives at the Overlook (so much for Halorann's psychic abilities!)

While I think this scene is very disturbing and I doubt if I can ever prove this but I think Stanley Kubrick is telling us something very definite with this alteration to the King novel.

I believe that the naïve side of him, represented by Danny, told someone that he, Kubrick, was faking the Apollo missions. He may even have told this person that he was faking the lunar landings for NASA while also appearing to produce the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Halloran is the representation of the person that Kubrick mistakenly revealed this most secret of all information. Because of that, Halloran, or the person who Stanley told, had to die.

The secret must remain safe. This also explains why Kubrick had to hide all of this crucial information inside the construct of the King novel. Kubrick wanted the story to get out, but he was also afraid for his life. Kubrick had to fake the making of the Stephen King novel so that he could reveal that he was involved in the faking the moon landings!