"Shining's Iconic Final Shot Photo Found After 45 Years"

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation of The Shining is renowned for its haunting final scene, which features a chilling photograph from the Overlook Hotel's 1921 Fourth of July ball. The image prominently displays Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), who, in a surreal twist, appears to have been present at an event decades before his birth. This iconic shot was created by superimposing Nicholson onto an existing historical photograph. For decades, the original image used in the film remained elusive, but it has now been rediscovered, 45 years after the film's release.

Retired academic Alasdair Spark from the University of Winchester shared the intriguing journey of tracking down the original photograph on Getty's Instagram. He disclosed that facial recognition software helped identify the unknown man in the photo as Santos Casani, a London ballroom dancer. The photograph, Spark explained, was one of three taken by the Topical Press Agency at a St. Valentine's Day Ball on February 14, 1921, at the Empress Rooms in the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington. Alongside his announcement, Spark shared a new scan of the image from its original glass-plate negative, accompanied by supporting handwritten documents.

Spark detailed the collaborative effort with New York Times staffer Arick Toller and enthusiastic Redditors to locate the image. "It was starting to seem impossible, every cross-reference to Casani failed to match. Other likely places that were suggested didn’t match," he noted on Getty. The search seemed destined to fail until Spark learned from on-set photographer Murray Close that the image had originally been sourced from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton had acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty took over in 1991, Spark delved into Getty's vast archives. Their search revealed that the image was licensed to Hawk Films, Kubrick's production company, on October 10, 1978, specifically for use in The Shining.

Spark clarified the true date of the photograph, stating, "Joan Smith had said the photo dated from 1923. Stanley Kubrick had said 1921 and he was correct." He also debunked speculations about the presence of celebrities, bankers, financiers, or even devil worshippers in the photo, affirming that no one else was composited into the image aside from Jack Nicholson. "It shows a group of ordinary London people on a Monday evening. 'All the best people,' as the manager of the Overlook Hotel said."

This discovery is sure to delight fans of The Shining. Stephen King's original novel, published in 1977, has inspired two adaptations: Kubrick's iconic film and Mick Garris' faithful 1997 miniseries.