John Coulthart
@johncoulthart.com
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Artist, designer, occasional writer. • Words: www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton • Pictures: www.johncoulthart.com • Linktree: linktr.ee/johncoulthart No DMs. Contact me here: www.johncoulthart.com/contact.html
![Bhob: Kubrick's film of The Shining reportedly replaces your topiary animals with a hedge maze. an idea you had originally considered. On page 203 of the book. there's a mention of hedge billboards in Vermont. Do these exist and is this what inspired your topiary?
King: They're really there. The idea for the hedge maze is really Kubrick's and not mine. I had considered it. but then I realized it had been done in the movie The Maze [1953] with Richard Carlson. and I rejected the maze idea for that reason. I have no knowledge as to whether or not Kubrick has ever seen that movie or if he'd even considered that or if it just happens to be coincidence. The billboards advertise some kind of ice cream; they're on Route 2 in Vermont. As you come across this open space where there are no trees. you can look across this rolling meadow to the land which I assume that the ice cream factory owns. The words of the ad have been clipped out of hedges. To hype the contrast. these hedges have been surrounded with white crushed stone so that the letters just leap right out at you. You know the first time you see them that there's something very peculiar about them, and then you realize, as you get closer. that it may be one of the world's few living signs—because they're hedges. But I got the idea for the topiary from Camden. Maine—where Peyton Place [1957] was filmed. You come down Route 1. you go through Camden, and there are several houses there that have clipped shrubs. They're not clipped into the shapes of animals. but they're clipped into very definite geometric shapes. There's a hedge that's clipped to look like a diamond. That was my first real experience with the topiary. There is a topiary at Disney World where the hedges are clipped to look like animals, but I saw that long after the book was published. In some ways. I like Kubrick's idea to use a maze. (Alt. text limit prevents posting of the entire quote.)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:siyol53kzwu5f4tsylrcwc32/bafkreifuyprrsvjezrtnzdgjqxsxrxpepnkh367lhcn7wzzvoqigmy54ru)
