Where Was The Shining Filmed? The Real Overlook Hotel Location Explained

Summary

• Stanley Kubrick shot the interiors and exteriors of
  The Shining
  at different locations, disorienting the audience and allowing the director to manipulate the layout of the Overlook Hotel.
• The exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel were filmed at the Timberline Lodge in Oregon, while the interiors were filmed at Elstree Studios in England.
• The opening sequence of the film, following Jack’s car to the resort, was filmed in Glacier National Park, Montana, with additional footage later used in Blade Runner.

Stanley Kubrick took inspiration from a few real and fictional locations for his 1980 adaptation of The Shining, but he mostly filmed the Overlook Hotel in one place, far from where the movie was set. While the movie’s Colorado resort is not a real place, author Stephen King based the Overlook on the Stanley Hotel. For Kubrick’s movie, another hotel was employed as a stand-in for the exterior of the Overlook, while its interiors were based on the Ahwahnee Hotel in California’s Yosemite National Park, plus other similar establishments.

However, the filmmaker primarily shot indoor and outdoor scenes on studio stages and lots. That was mostly so the production could have easier and longer access to sets, but for Kubrick, it also meant he could better manipulate the layout of the Overlook, disorienting the audience. The mix of real and constructed locations for The Shining and the patchwork of influences on the Overlook adds to the disconnectedness of the spaces and places in the movie. The fact that one alleged shooting location has also been challenged over the years contributes to the perplexity of The Shining.

The Shining’s Hotel Exterior Was Shot At The Timberline Lodge In Mount Hood, Oregon

The Shining Was Filmed Far Away From The Colorado Landscape

For the establishing shots of the Overlook Hotel, The Shining features the front of the Timberline Lodge, which is located on the side of Mount Hood in Oregon. The Timberline is nowhere near the setting and doesn’t resemble the Colorado-based Stanley Hotel, which served as the Overlook Hotel’s main inspiration in the book. Yet its rustic architecture, U.S. government involvement, and appropriated Native American influence fit the aesthetic and thematic needs of Stanley Kubrick’s vision for the film adaptation.

The Timberline was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the same architect as the Ahwahnee Hotel, which was the model for the interior of the Overlook in the movie. Some interesting things about the Timberline Lodge in terms of its disconnect to the story of the film include its distinct late-1930s construction, compared to 1907-1909 as stated in the movie.

Also, while the establishing shots of the Overlook don’t reveal too much of what is behind the Timberline Lodge, as the aerial establishing shot cuts just before any confirmation, it’s pretty obvious that there’s nowhere for The Shining‘s hedge maze to fit on the grounds. It’s unknown whether Kubrick intended this inconsistency, like how he made the interior layout of the Overlook not align with the Timberline’s structure, but the subtle way the locations don’t line up perfectly suits the movie.

The Interior Of The Overlook Hotel Was Filmed At Elstree Studios In England

The Shining Was Filmed Outside The US For The Majority Of The Movie

The design of the Overlook set was based on the interiors of the Ahwahnee Hotel, but nothing was actually filmed on location there

Despite being an American filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick spent most of his life in England, and shot all of his later films there, regardless of whether they took place in New York City, Vietnam, or, in the case of The Shining, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The interiors of the Overlook Hotel were filmed at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, England. This allowed Kubrick to play with space, as nothing of the hotel’s layout makes any sense, and to also create iconic visuals such as an elevator gushing blood, which wouldn’t have gone over well with the owners of an actual lodge.

The design of the Overlook set was based on the interiors of the Ahwahnee Hotel, but nothing was actually filmed on location there. One interesting detail about the interior locations of the Overlook in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is that the movie changes Room 217 from the book to Room 237. One of the reasons for this is that there is no Room 237 in the Timberline Lodge.

The owners of the real hotel were afraid that guests would avoid the Timberline Lodge’s Room 217 after seeing it used in the film. In reality, Room 217 apparently became the most-requested room at the Timberline due to its pop culture significance.

Other Interior Locations & Some Exterior Shots Of The Overlook Were Also Filmed At Elstree Studios

The Shining Made Use Of Multiple UK Studios

Almost anytime a character is indoors in The Shining, they are actually on a soundstage in England. Other scenes shot at Elstree Studios on various stages include the interiors of the Torrance’s Boulder apartment, Dick Halloran’s place in Miami, the ranger station, and Durkin’s Store. One interior not filmed at Elstree was the airport where Halloran makes his payphone call.

Keen-eyed viewers will notice that the back of the Overlook is mostly shot from one angle that best captured the fabricated hotel exterior.

The UK studio wasn’t just used for interior sets. Even the back exteriors of the Overlook when the Torrances are being shown around the grounds, when Wendy and Danny run out to the hedge maze early on in the film, and later when Jack chases his son outside into the snow were filmed at Elstree.

The backside of the Timberline Lodge was partly reconstructed on a sound stage, along with pieces of the nonexistent maze being filmed on a backlot at the studio. Keen-eyed viewers will notice that the back of the Overlook is mostly shot from one angle that best captured the fabricated hotel exterior.

London Stansted Airport Stood In For Denver’s Stapleton Airport

The Shining’s Airport Scene Was Shot At One Of The UK’s Biggest Terminals

For whatever reason, the one shot of Dick Halloran on the pay phone at the airport was not shot on a set at Elstree Studios. Instead, Kubrick shot the quick moment at London Stansted Airport. Keeping with his attention to detail, the director apparently had American pay phones shipped over to England to use for the shot. Perhaps the fact that they are cut off in the frame is because they were so temporarily positioned there in the airport terminal.

The Opening Sequence Of The Shining Was Filmed In Glacier National Park, Montana

The Location Was Thematically Tied To The Lore Of The Shining

While The Shining used a location in Oregon for the establishing shots of Colorado’s Overlook Hotel, the opening sequence following Jack’s car to the resort was filmed elsewhere, far away. The Timberline Lodge isn’t located in the Rocky Mountains like the Overlook, so the second-unit filmmakers couldn’t use any nearby roads for this sequence. Instead, the helicopter shots of the car driving through the mountains were achieved along the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park in Montana. Intentional or not, the area also has ties to Native American culture, further fitting The Shining‘s lore.

Other Exterior Road Scenes Were Filmed In The UK

Some Of The Shining’s Filming Locations Remain Debated

There’s another exterior road scene in The Shining where Dick Halloran is trying to drive to the Overlook and hits traffic caused by an overturned truck smashed into a red Volkswagen Bug. This part of the movie is said to have been filmed on the Radlett Aerodrome outside of London. Other reports claim that scene was shot at Elstree Studios, but the Radlett Aerorome was used for other exteriors, including the summer maze sequence.

The Shining Did Actually Film One Exterior In Colorado

The Shining Was Filmed Where It’s Set For Only One Shot

The second-unit filmmakers for The Shining seem to have gone all over the place while capturing exteriors for the movie. In addition to filming in Oregon and Montana, they did shoot in Colorado, the state where The Shining takes place. Before Jack gets the job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook, the Torrances live in an apartment in Boulder, Colorado. While the interior scenes of that home were filmed on a set built at Elstree Studios, the exterior establishing shot was taken at an actual apartment complex in Boulder.

The Overlook Hotel’s Hedge Maze Was Created For The Shining

One Of The Shining’s Most Iconic Locations Didn’t Actually Exist

The maze seen in
The Shining
was never a real maze anywhere, even as a full set.

The iconic hedge maze in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining was not in Stephen King’s book, which instead features animal topiary sculptures that come to life. There also was no maze at the Stanley Hotel, which was the original inspiration for the Overlook — though there is one at the Stanley now, inspired by the movie. No maze existed at the Timberline Lodge or the Ahwahnee Hotel either. In fact, the maze seen in The Shining was never a real maze anywhere, even as a full set.

The parts shown in the movie with the characters walking through the maze employed bits of constructed sets arranged just for the specific shots. Meanwhile, the overhead shot of the Overlook maze in The Shining was achieved by filming Wendy and Danny from above from a high-rise and combining that shot with a matte painting. Interestingly enough and adding to the disjointedness of the movie’s locations, the overhead shot of the maze doesn’t match either the map of the maze seen in the film or the model of the maze located inside the Overlook Hotel.

Was The Shining’s Gold Room Bar Scene Filmed At Hollywood’s American Legion Post 43?

One Scene In The Shining Gave Birth To An Infamous Hollywood Myth

A lot of The Shining filming locations found on the internet are incorrect, including many added to IMDb by anonymous users without sources. That’s the case with a claim that some pickup shots for The Shining, specifically of the Gold Room bar, were filmed at the American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood. Complicating matters is the fact that the website and social media accounts for that famous post list The Shining as one of the films shot there, and a Los Angeles Times article makes the same connection, though it’s noted as being a rumor.

Yet people involved in the production, as well The Shining megafan (and Toy Story 3 director) Lee Unkrich have disputed that any part of The Shining was filmed in Hollywood, let alone at the American Legion Post 43. Whether the room at the American Legion post was made to look like the bar in The Shining, or vice versa, or they simply have a resemblance, is not clear. Still, the confusion involved with this supposed filming location is quite appropriate for The Shining and the mysteries of both its production and narrative.

Can You Visit Any Of The Places Where The Shining Was Filmed?

Several Of The Important Locations Are Tourist Attractions

The Shining may have released almost five decades ago, but many of the filming locations still exist and can be visited, with some even being popular tourist attractions. For fans of the movie and the original Stephen King novel, the most appealing is perhaps the Stanley Hotel tour. The Stanley Hotel inspired Stephen King to write The Shining in the first place, and the hotel has fully leaned into this reputation.

“The Shining Tour” remains a popular revenue stream for the Stanley Hotel. Fans of The Shining are treated to a visit to The Shining Suite in a restored caretakers’ cottage. This includes a recreation of the bathroom from The Shining movie, as well as one of the prop aces wielded by Jack Nicholson. The tour takes about an hour, and also includes some of the history of the Stanley Hotel and supernatural goings-on that inspired King in the first place.

Timberline Lodge, where many of the exterior locations of The Shining were filmed, is also still open to the public, though doesn’t seem to offer an experience catering to fans in the same way that the Stanley Hotel does. There unfortunately aren’t any tours available of Elstree Studios in the UK, and many of the sets used in The Shining also likely no longer exist. For fans of the Stanley Kubrick movie, the best option is inarguably the Stanley Hotel’s dedicated tour.