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Renowned for his heartwarming comedic talent, the late Robin Williams left a lasting legacy with his roles in films such as “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Jumanji,” “The Birdcage,” and “Hook.” Beyond comedy, Williams was a formidable presence in dramatic cinema, earning praise for performances in “Dead Poets Society” and “Good Will Hunting,” among others.
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However, at the dawn of his career, Williams’s path could have diverged significantly. Long before his dramatic achievements, Williams was reportedly considered for a role in one of cinema’s most chilling films, “The Shining.” According to Vulture, director Stanley Kubrick contemplated casting Williams as Jack Torrance, a role that ultimately went to Jack Nicholson. In “The Shining,” based on Stephen King’s novel, Jack Torrance is a father unraveling under the weight of rage, alcoholism, and perhaps malevolent forces as he cares for an isolated hotel.
Imagining Williams in this role is challenging, given Nicholson’s iconic performance. Despite King’s own dissatisfaction with the film, the character of Jack Torrance became firmly associated with Nicholson’s portrayal. In the 1990s, when King produced a miniseries adaptation with Mick Garris, Steven Weber took on the role, inevitably drawing comparisons to Nicholson. It’s almost unimaginable to picture the man who voiced the Genie in “Aladdin” stepping into such a dark role.
The notion that Robin Williams was nearly cast as Jack Torrance in “The Shining” is a captivating piece of Hollywood lore, often cited in discussions about alternate casting scenarios. This story even appears in the 2015 book “The Amazing Book of Movie Trivia,” which humorously suggests that Kubrick dismissed Williams as “too psychotic” for the part. Yet, the authenticity of this claim remains uncertain.
In 1980, Williams was just beginning to gain fame, primarily known for his role in the sitcom “Mork & Mindy,” a “Happy Days” spin-off where he portrayed an alien learning about human life. As Stanley Kubrick biographer Lee Unkrich pointed out to Snopes, the timeline suggests that Kubrick may not have even been aware of Williams, let alone considered him for the pivotal role of Jack Torrance before ultimately choosing Jack Nicholson.
Other sources claim this is just a rumor and never would have happened
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The idea that Robin Williams almost played Jack Torrance in “The Shining” is a popular tidbit of film lore — one you’re likely to find all around the internet in articles that imagine what-if versions of beloved movies based on alternate casting ideas. It’s even mentioned in the 2015 book “The Amazing Book of Movie Trivia,” which suggests that Stanley Kubrick nixed Williams because he ironically found the funnyman “too psychotic” for the part. There is, however, some doubt as to whether any of this is actually true.
Williams was just getting famous in 1980; at the time, he was best-known for starring on “Mork & Mindy,” a “Happy Days” spin-off sitcom where he played an alien trying to understand human life. As Stanley Kubrick biographer Lee Unkrich explained to Snopes, the timeline suggests Kubrick likely hadn’t even heard of Williams at the time, let alone considered him for Jack Torrance before landing on Jack Nicholson.
“Stanley first read the galleys of Stephen King’s novel in 1977. Nicholson was cast that year as well,” Unkrich explained, having scoured the Warner Bros. Archives while researching a book called “Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining.’” He added, “Production on the film began in April of 1978.” That’s an important detail because the sitcom that made Williams famous didn’t even premiere until that fall. Unless there’s some twisted, Stephen King-ian time-travel happening here, this may just be an Internet-driven myth.
Robin Williams later proved he could be deliciously creepy
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Though Robin Williams didn’t star in “The Shining” – and might not have even been considered, depending on who you ask — he did eventually get a chance to prove that he could be scary. In Mark Romanek’s 2002 film “One Hour Photo,” Williams played Sy Parrish, a photo-development technician at a big-box store who becomes fixated on and eventually stalks one of the families who drops film at his counter.
He’s deliciously creepy in the part, but he also makes the character uncomfortably sympathetic in fascinating ways. Yes, you want to cringe yourself out of existence when he begins to follow his customers home, but he also just seems desperately sad and lonely; Williams navigates that tension with an incredible amount of nuance. On the DVD commentary for the film (via YouTube) — which was one of the only ones he ever recorded — Williams acknowledged what a departure this role was from his normal on-screen persona. “I could look at this character because it is so different, and so, kind of, a definite step away from myself,” he said.
We’ve explained the ending of “One Hour Photo” here, but Williams always refused to interpret it for people. “I can’t tell you,” he said, “and I don’t want to.”
