Werner Herzog Helped Stanley Kubrick With The Iconic Sound of Danny’s Tricycle in THE SHINNING

Pixar director Lee Unkrich is a big fan of Stanley Kubrick’S The brilliant and I’m sure you may have noticed little easter eggs placed in the Pixar movies he made. He was obsessed with it The brilliant since he was 12 and for the past 12 years he has been working on a book called The Shining by Stanely Kubrickwhich is a detailed 2,200-page account of the creation of the classic horror film.

Unkrich was granted total access to Kubrick’s archives, and also worked with the late JW Rinzler to compile hundreds of photographs, production details, and interviews with virtually every available cast and crew member.

During a recent interview with Variety to promote the book, Unkrich shared some of the fascinating stories and details he came across. One of those things was about the director Werner Herzog by coming to the film set and helping Kubrick! In fact, he can be credited for the sound of Danny’s tricycle as he drove through the hotel.

I’ve always loved the alternating sounds of the trike going over the hardwood floors and carpet as Danny rides over it. For some reason, it’s just a satisfying sound! Dan Lloydwho played Danny in the film, spoke about his memories, saying:

“I have good memories of riding the tricycle: I remember being excited because I was riding inside. They kept trying to figure out how they were going to take the shot and it couldn’t be a dolly shot because of the tracks. But because they were experimenting, I had more and more time to go around.

One of the other things Kubrick was concerned about with the tricycle was the sound, but it was Herzog who convinced him to keep alternating the sounds from wood to carpet. Unkrich explained:

“I had a picture of Danny and his brother sitting with Vivian Kubrick in the back of Elstree, and there’s a guy in the background. It wasn’t until I was sitting with Leon and I pulled that picture out and he said, “That’s Werner Herzog.” This then led to a whole story about Werner Herzog as the person who convinced Stanley that the sound of Danny’s tricycle going back and forth across the hardwood floors and carpet sounded really good because Stanley was worried it didn’t sound right.

As for the fantastic shots, Kubrick called on Garrett Brown, the inventor of the Steadicam, to “capture the corridors of the Overlook Hotel with liquid fluidity.”

I love those creepy shots of Danny riding his tricycle through the hotel, and when I saw this movie when I was growing up, I wanted to walk through a giant hotel like that! I still do!

The tricycle scenes in The brilliant actually created a sense of unease and foreboding. Watching Danny navigate the empty, labyrinthine corridors of the Overlook Hotel created a feeling of isolation and vulnerability, while the alternating sounds of the wheels on the hardwood floors and carpet added a layer of aural complexity to the scene. Then there were the fluid camera movements which added to the dreamlike and surreal quality of the scenes.