Five Stephen King Adaptations That Need a Remake

The Shining – 1980

Cast – Jack Nicholson (Jack Torrance), Shelley Duvall (Wendy Torrance)

Ideal Remake Cast – Leonardo DiCaprio (Torrance), Michelle Williams (Wendy)

Keep This Line – “Give me the bat, Wendy.”

Of all the movies based off of Stephen King’s stories, The Shining is perhaps the most overdue for a remake. That’s not to say that Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation wasn’t good, because it was, but it’s obvious to anyone who actually read the story that the movie is rather loosely based on the story rather than by rote.

King’s struggle with alcoholism early in his career is widely known, and The Shining was an autobiographical work if anything. Torrance, in the story, was a good man who had some demons to battle. He loved his son, Danny, and he loved his wife, Wendy, who loved her family as well and was prepared to fight for them if the need arose.

Instead of expanding on the tragic aspect of the story Kubrick instead decided to make Nicholson’s Torrance an abusive psychopath and Duvall’s Wendy a weak-willed hick. This variation ultimately robbed the overall story of it’s power.

If the film were to be remade, DiCaprio as Torrance would be perfect as he would be able to convey to the screen Torrance’s struggle to not be a failure perfectly. He would convey the goodness of Torrance as well as the slow madness that ultimately take him over. Williams already exudes a good maternal air, and she would be able to put some backbone into Wendy and do the role some justice.

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