In Vivian Kubrick’s documentary on the making of The Shining, Jack Nicholson can briefly be seen dressed in a tuxedo as a wardrobe person ties his bow tie – presumably so he can be photographed for use in the iconic final image. Nicholson was posed with his arms outstretched, although only his head was composited into the vintage photograph.
People have long speculated about what Jack is holding in his right hand in the photo, and why Kubrick chose to include it.
The original, unaltered period photo into which actor Jack Nicholson was composited to create the iconic photograph seen in the final shots of The Shining. These images were found in a book entitled The Complete Airbrush and Photo-Retouching Manual, which was originally published in 1985. The book also identifies the retouching artist responsible for this work, Joan Honour Smith. The original photographs of Jack Nicholson are located in the Stanley Kubrick Archive in London, and inspection of them reveals that only Nicholson’s head, collar, and bowtie were used; the rest of the figure is the anonymous man in the original 1923 photograph. Interestingly, close examination of images from the film reveals that two different photo-composites were used: one for the long tracking shot which pushes down the hall towards the photo, and a different one for the extreme close-up. Nicholson’s composited head rotates from one photo to the next, and his shoulder shifts, partially obscuring the woman holding the cigarette behind him.
