Ben Stiller is in talks to star as Jack Nicholson’s character, Jack Torrance, in a stage adaptation of The Shining set to premiere on London’s West End in 2023. Stiller is widely known for his more comedic roles, such as vain and oblivious actor Tugg Speedman in Tropic Thunder, and vain but oblivious model Derek Zoolander in Zoolander. His last starring film role was in the little-seen 2017 dramedy, Brad’s Status, and since then Stiller has taken a backseat from acting to focus his efforts on producing and directing. In that regard, he’s met some acclaim, helming every episode of the prison drama, Escape at Dannemora, and recently directing several episodes of the dystopian workplace thriller, Severance.
Renowned theater director Ivo van Hove is bringing the Stephen King work to the stage. Van Hove has distinctive style that is at once minimalist and over-sized, often utilizing projection screens in inventive ways, and has been pinned as being “avante-garde.” Despite being divisive amongst critics and audience members alike, van Hove has been in charge of several high-profile stage adaptations in the past few years. In 2019, he directed Bryan Cranston to a Tony win as anchorman Howard Beale in Network on Broadway, and also brought classic 1950’s film All About Eve to the West End (the London equivalent of Broadway) starring Gillian Anderson. His latest work was the pre-pandemic adaptation of West Side Story, which he was working on at roughly the same time that Stephen Spielberg decided to adapt it for the big screen.
Deadline began tracking the story in 2017, when plans for a Shining stage adaptation were percolating until the Covid pandemic shutdown theaters worldwide. Now, work on the play has continued full-swing, with Stiller in talks to star as Jack Torrance, alcoholic writer and caretaker of the haunted Overlook hotel. Sources say the production will stick closer to the original 1977 novel than the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film version. Rehearsals are set to begin in the fall, with January 2023 eyed for a London premiere, with plans to take it to Broadway after that.
Tony-winning writer of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Simon Stephens, has been brought on to adapt the story to the stage, and it will produced by Sonia Friedman and Colin Callendar, who brought Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to Broadway. This wouldn’t be Stiller’s first brush with either Broadway or Stephen King. Most recently, Stiller was in House of Blue Leaves opposite Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh, a 2011 revival of a play he co-starred in the original version of in 1986. As for King, Stiller purchased the rights for his novella Rat, about a writer who makes a pact with a rat to fix his writer’s block, only to discover the rat may not be as it seems, which he had designs to star in, produce, and direct.
While Rat has yet to materialize, it’s not so dissimilar from The Shining in that both are about struggling and delirious writers who get entangled with the supernatural. While he hasn’t flirted with horror before in his acting roles, Stiller’s never shied away from the darker sides of his comedic characters and often imbues them with a barely contained rage. He’s played in more dramatic fare as well, but nothing with as high stakes as a man whose mind is slowly unraveling as he tears his family a part. He’ll truly be following in the shadow of giants, starring in a role made iconic by Jack Nicholson, which would be a challenge for any actor to overcome and potentially struggle to make their own. From an abstract director to Stiller‘s left-of-center casting, this adaptation of The Shining has all the makings of being either a fiasco or unexpectedly brilliant.
Source: Deadline
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Author: Kevin Swanstrom
