The original negatives and prints that were used to comp Jack Nicholson into the photo seen at the end of The Shining are housed at the Stanley Kubrick Archive in London. The original vintage photograph without Jack, however, is not a part of the collection. In this era of Photoshop manipulation, combining Nicholson into this photo seems trivial. However, at the time it was quite a feat as it was achieved using a photographic process, along with some possible airbrushing. The grain structure and lighting was matched nearly perfectly, cementing the illusion even when shown in extreme close-up.
In Vivian Kubrick’s documentary on the making of The Shining, Jack Nicholson can briefly be seen dressed in a tuxedo as a wardrobe person ties his bow tie — presumably so he can be photographed for use in the iconic final image. Nicholson was posed with his arms outstretched, although only his head was composited into the vintage photograph.
People have long speculated about what Jack is holding in his right hand in the photo, and why Kubrick chose to include it.
