Reminder that Shelley Duvall denied that she was "traumatized " by working on The Shining several times, describing Kubrick as demanding but warm and friendly. It's depressing how people once attacked her for "bad" acting, and then when they started praising her, only did so by claiming it "wasn't really acting" and framing her as a victim. No, she was just acting, and it's weird how people dance around finding excuses instead of saying the truth: that her role in The Shining wasn't just good acting, but one of the greatest performances in horror history
she had said that the performance took a lot out of her and that kubrick had demanded a lot from her, and she said she wouldn’t want to give that much to a project again. but none of that means she was traumatized and mentally shot forever after the filming came out. she went on to run her own production company and make a bunch of children’s shows. the narrative that “evil kubrick drove her crazy during the filming, she wasn’t acting good she was just pushed by kubrick” is infantilzing and a roundabout way to praise kubrick for evoking a performance rather than praising duvall for actually giving it
