Ever wonder how that beautifully eerie opening scene of the Torrance family driving to the Overlook Hotel in ‘The Shining’ was filmed? This fascinating behind-the-scenes photo reveals the ingenious trickery director Stanley Kubrick employed. Rather than shooting on location, the classic yellow Volkswagen is mounted inside an elaborate rig, allowing Kubrick to capture every precise angle and movement in a controlled environment as actors Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd performed the “driving” scenes.

Through technical wizardry like rear-projection compositing the exterior scenery, Kubrick made it appear the Torrances were genuinely journeying towards their inescapable fate. The contrast between the casual body language and unsettling undertones is pure Kubrick brilliance. Even for this relatively simple opening sequence, no detail was too small for his obsessively innovative approach. He pioneered such workarounds to translate his uniquely vivid cinematic visions onto the screen at the highest level.

“It was the beginning of digital effects,” McCallum says. “We were the very first to have real visual effects that were done digitally. I mean, they were done on an Apple computer, but nevertheless, we had sometimes 50, 60, 70 shots in each episode. And the dream was how could we make something all around the world for the same cost of a typical show in the United States that shot on the stage in five days.”

The team did that by basing itself out of Prague, working exclusively with local crews, and keeping the department heads in England. “That group became very intensely close,” McCallum says. “We all became very close, still great friends. I took everybody from Young Indy on to Star Wars, so altogether we were together for 15 years.”