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

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation of "The Shining" includes one of the most iconic and chilling final scenes in cinematic history: a photograph from the Overlook Hotel's 1921 Fourth of July ball, prominently featuring Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), who, in reality, had not yet been born at the time the photo was supposedly taken. The image used in the film was a real photograph, digitally altered to include Nicholson. However, the original photograph had remained elusive for decades, until now. After 45 years since the movie's release, the original 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph has finally been discovered.

Alasdair Spark, a retired academic from the University of Winchester, detailed the journey to find the image on Getty's Instagram. He revealed that facial recognition software had previously identified the unknown man in the photo as Santos Casani, a London ballroom dancer. Spark explained that the photograph 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 this revelation, a new scan from the original glass-plate negative and other supporting handwritten documents were shared.

The search for the image was a collaborative effort involving Spark, New York Times staffer Arick Toller, and numerous enthusiastic Redditors. Spark described the process as a challenging "wild goose chase," with numerous dead ends and false leads. "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 team feared the photo might be lost to history forever.

Spark also mentioned that on-set photographer Murray Close, who captured the image of Nicholson that was superimposed over Casani, had indicated the original photo was sourced from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty took over in 1991, Spark decided to sift through the agency's vast collection. This led to the discovery that the image was licensed to Hawk Films, Kubrick's production company, on October 10, 1978, for use in "The Shining." Spark concluded by clarifying the photo's date and content, stating, "Joan Smith had said the photo dated from 1923. Stanley Kubrick had said 1921 and he was correct. The photo doesn’t show any of the celebrities I had speculated on — the Trix Sisters for instance — nor the bankers, financiers or presidents others like Rob Ager have imagined there. No devil worshippers either. Nobody was composited into it except 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 revelation is sure to excite fans of "The Shining." Stephen King's novel, released in 1977, has been adapted into two notable versions: Kubrick's iconic film and a 1997 miniseries directed by Mick Garris, which stayed closer to the book.