The 'Shining' actress opens up on her 20-year hiatus from acting career, explaining she took a breather to spend more time with her family amid her sibling's serious health issue.
- Feb 23, 2023
AceShowbiz - Shelley Duvall took a step back from Hollywood for 20 years after her brother was diagnosed with spinal cancer. "The Shining" star quit her acting career in 2002 following the release of her film "Manna From Heaven" - retiring from her movie work and stepping away from public life - and she's now revealed she wanted to be at home in her native Texas to focus on her family as her sibling faced a life-threatening health crisis.
"It's the longest sabbatical I ever took, but it was for really important reasons - to get in touch with my family again," She told PEOPLE.
Shelley, 73, has now come out of retirement to appear in new horror movie "The Forest Hills" and she's happy to be back in the film business. She explained, "Acting again - it's so much fun. It enriches your life," before joking she might even win an Oscar after previously being overlooked by the Academy Awards for her earlier work. She added, "[Jessica Tandy] won an Oscar when she was 80. I can still win."
Shelley recently gave a rare interview to The Hollywood Reporter in which she opened up about working with famed director Stanley Kubrick on 1980 classic "The Shining" and revealed she was worn down by the moviemaker's insistence on doing multiple takes for every shot.
She said, "[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. And full performance from the first rehearsal. That's difficult..."
"[Before a take I would] listen to sad songs. Or you just think about something very sad in your life or how much you miss your family or friends. But after a while, your body rebels. It says, 'Stop doing this to me. I don't want to cry every day.' "
