Shelly Duvall has given a rare insight into her iconic role in The Shining, claiming that director Stanley Kubrick had an abusive "streak".
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the "reclusive" 71-year-old recounts her – at times – difficult experience on the set of the 1980 psychological horror film.
Her interview with THR comes about five years after her appearance in a widely-condemned episode of Dr. Phil, which was criticized for exploiting her mental health struggles.
For Duvall's role as Wendy Torrance, wife of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) in The Shining, she had to endure a "grueling" schedule, which involved filming six days a week, up to 16 hours a day.
For much of her time on set, Duvall was reportedly expected to work herself up to a state of hysteria as her character's husband goes insane inside a snowed-in resort hotel and – spoiler alert – tries to massacre his family using an ax.
Duvall recalled how Kubrick did not "print anything until at least the 35th take."
She added: "Thirty-five takes, running and crying and carrying a little boy, it gets hard. And full performance from the first rehearsal. That's difficult."
Before filming, Duvall would get out her Sony Walkman and "listen to sad songs. Or you just think about something very sad in your life or how much you miss your family or friends.
"But after a while, your body rebels," she said. "It says: 'Stop doing this to me. I don't want to cry every day.' And sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry.
"To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled — I would just start crying. I'd be like, 'Oh no, I can't, I can't.' And yet I did it. I don't know how I did it. Jack said that to me, too. He said, 'I don't know how you do it.'"
Duvall was asked by THR whether Kubrick had been "unusually cruel or abusive" – as had been reported in the past – in order to provoke an authentic performance.
She replied: "He's got that streak in him. He definitely has that. But I think mostly because people have been that way to him at some time in the past. His first two films were Killer's Kiss and The Killing.
"Every day. It was very hard. Jack was so good – so damn scary. I can only imagine how many women go through this kind of thing."
However, the actress also insisted Kubrick "was very warm and friendly" to her.
"He spent a lot of time with Jack and me," she added. "He just wanted to sit down and talk for hours while the crew waited. And the crew would say, 'Stanley, we have about 60 people waiting.' But it was very important work."