Possibly the most cursed piece of film memorabilia went under the hammer today. The axe wielded by Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining just fetched a whopping £170,000 at auction.
The axe was originally purchased by a The Shining crew member at the end of filming for the sole intention of needing an axe to chop wood at home. Like all resolutions of days, the prop never got to mince into any wood, and as a result “remains in excellent condition, with a few knicks and scratches present from use on Kubrick’s notoriously long shooting days”.
You can revisit the iconic axe-wielding scene from the film below.
Watch: The Shining (1980) – Here’s Johnny! Scene
A sequel to the 1980 classic is set to arrive later this month. The Mike Flanagan-directed film, Doctor Sleep is based on Stephen King’s 2013 novel of the same name. The story picks up 40 years after the first novel.
Doctor Sleep stars Ewan McGregor, who’ll take on the role of Danny Torrance — who is attempting to work through the trauma of the events that took place at the Overlook Hotel.
“I always wondered what happened to Danny when he grew up,” Stephen King explained to Entertainment Weekly. “And I felt I had a story to tell.”
“Danny is so traumatized by what he’s been through, he has no idea how to deal with this.”
In related news, Ewan McGregor’s stunning rattail hair extension from Star Wars Episode I: A Phantom Menace recently sold for a cool $3,100. Which we think is an absolute steal for memorabilia with such might.
