Duvall will play the mother of the mentally and emotionally disturbed Rico (Mendez), who is his inner voice.
Good news! Shelley Duvall is back. After 20 years, Duvall will be seen in the independent horror-thriller film The Forest Hills. The actor is making a comeback after a 20-year-hiatus. The film is by writer-director Scott Goldberg. The Forest Hills is about a disturbed man who is tormented by nightmarish visions, after enduring head trauma while camping in the Catskill Mountains. Duvall will play mother to the mentally and emotionally disturbed Rico (Mendez), who is his inner voice.
“We are huge fans of The Shining and it’s honestly one of my favorite horror movies of all time, up there with John Carpenter’s Halloween and George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead with the dark tones they delivered in their movies, along with perfect scores and elements that make them my personal favorites,” said Goldberg. “Shelley contributed to The Shining being an absolute masterpiece by giving her all, and performing in a way that really showcased the fear and horror of a mother in isolation.”
Duvall's last performance was in the movie Manna From Heaven which was released in 2002, after which, she announced her retirement from acting.
Speaking about the making of the film The Shining, Duvall said that Director Stanley Kubrick offered her the role without "meeting her or even having a script." "He said I was great at crying", she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.
The movie took 56 weeks to be filmed and has a Guinness World Record for "most retakes for one scene with dialogue," according to PEOPLE. Duvall remembers having a "nice dinner" with Kubrick and his daughter but once the cameras rolled, it was strictly business. "[Kubrick] doesn't print anything until at least the 35th take. Thirty-five takes, running and crying and carrying a little boy, it gets hard," the actress said. "And the full performance from the first rehearsal. That's difficult." Duvall used to "listen to sad songs" before each scene or "just think about something very sad in your life or how much you miss your family and friends."
After a point, Duvall didn't want to get up and cry because it was scheduled. "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 [Nicholson] said that to me, too. He said, 'I don't know how you do it,'" she said.
Duvall clarified that despite Kubrick having "that streak in him" he was "very warm and friendly" to her. "He spent a lot of time with Jack and me. 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 to work," she added.
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Cover Image Source: Promotional PIcture released by Digital Thunderdome Studios
