How 'The Shining' Almost Destroyed 'The Empire Strikes Back'

The year 1980 was a great one for the film industry, as it saw the release of two hugely successful and popular movies, each of which would go on to have a huge impact in the world. The two films in question are The Shining and The Empire Strikes Back. Both films are linked together more than just sharing the same release year however.

It turns out both films were being produced at the same time, in the exact same studio, next door to one another. The studio housing both productions, was the famous Elstree Studios in London. Whilst this is quite a cool little fact, considering how big both went on to become, a lot of fans don't know The Shining actually halted production on The Empire Strikes Back, and put it in jeopardy.

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During their time working next door to one another, a fire broke out on Stage 3, where The Shining was being filmed, and it caused a considerable amount of damage. Due to this, Lucas had to relinquish some of the space he was using and give it to fellow director Stanley Kubrick to allow him to finish his work on his film. This obviously caused a great deal of frustration for Lucas, as it did put them quite a bit behind schedule and could have, potentially, resulted in him having to push the release of the film back more.

Now, the studio making Lucas give up his space might seem strange to many Star Wars fans. After all, it's Star Wars, but you need to remember this was back when the only film to exist was the original, so the franchise had barely begun and was merely a small fraction of what it is now. Kubrick, however, had made quite a name for himself by this point, so it's likely the studio sided with him due to his credentials being a bit more impressive then Lucas's, at the time.

Thankfully, though, both films managed to finish and be released, and as we said previously, were met with critical acclaim. The Shining, of course, going on to become an absolute classic, and Empire now often being citied as the best of the lot.

Interestingly, this is not the only link tying both films together. During a shoot in Norway, for some of the scenes taking place on the planet Hoth at the beginning of Empire, a huge blizzard almost led to Lucas and the crew being confined to their hotel. This is very reminiscent of the overall plot of The Shining, but they were able to get out. One could only imagine what would have happened had they been trapped. Considering both Jack Torrance, the main character of The Shining, and George Lucas were both writers, I'm sure many of the production team would have been very hesitant to check out any typewriters left lying around. Although, I'm sure instead of a baseball bat or axe, George would probably have been running around with a fake lightsaber, and instead of menacing ghosts, it might have been old Ben just dropping in with some words of wisdom.

Did you know this fact? If not, you now have an extra random one to add to your list. Be sure to let us know if you knew it or if you have any other random and obscure Star Wars facts.

Until next time!

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Written By Jordan McGlinchey

Source(s): Starwars.com

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