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Two 1980s films sharing a movie lot made for some unusual encounters.
The Shining was filmed at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England, where The Muppet Show was also made.
Puppeteer Richard Hunt — who mainly played Scooter, but also performed Beaker, Statler, Janice, and Sweetums — frequently wandered the lot and got to know some of the cast and crew of the 1980 horror film, which was on the lot from May 1978 to Oct. 1979.
Actor Danny Lloyd, who played Danny Torrance in the classic, was able to visit the Muppet Studio, given a tour by Hunt.
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Lee Unkrich shared photos from the visit to the set in the 2015 compendium, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. A year prior, puppeteer Louise Gold spoke with The Elstree Project, an oral history of the studio, and discussed her memories.
“I remember, they were shooting The Shining when we were doing Muppets, and Richard Hunt, who would make friends with anybody and was always very welcoming, got Shelley Duvall in; because I think she was having a bit of a rough time on The Shining. And I think the way they shot it, you know, she was being slightly tortured! So coming on and hanging around with the Muppets was a really fun thing for her to do,” she said.
“I think she actually – in the Spike Milligan show – snuck a puppet into the back of shot, and was kind of hiding around the back with a puppet!”
Lloyd was asked about the experience by a fan in 2023 on Twitter.
“I do remember! How could I forget? Rich was really friendly and funny obviously,” he shared. “We even snuck in to see some filming. The Muppet Show was one of the few kids shows I remember watching in England.”
Ironically, the Muppets do exist in The Shining’s universe, per the 1977 novel by Stephen King. There was a mention of Jim Henson’s Sesame Street in a description of Danny that reads, “Danny, prepared by four years of Sesame Street and three years of Electric Company, seemed to be catching on with almost scary speed.”
