Shelley Duvall Breaks Twenty Year Acting Hiatus for New Movie, First Look Released

October 29, 2022, 2:50pm

Two decades after her last film appearance in 2002’s Manna From Heaven, award-winning The Shining and Annie Hall star Shelley Duvall is returning to Hollywood with a new movie role. According to Deadline (via Entertainment Weekly), Duvall returns in the upcoming independent horror-thriller The Forest Hills. The film comes from writer-director Scott Goldberg and also stars Edward Furlong, Chiko Mendez, and Dee Wallace. The film tells the story of a disturbed man (Mendez) who finds himself tormented by nightmarish visions after enduring head trauma while camping in the Catskill Mountains. Duvall is set to play the man’s mother. A first look at the film and DuVall’s return has been released as well, and you can check that photo out below.

“We are huge fans of The Shining and it’s honestly one of my favorite horror movies of all time, up there with John Carpenter’s Halloween and George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead with the dark tones they delivered in their movies, along with perfect scores and elements that make them my personal favorites,” said Goldberg. “Shelley contributed to The Shining being an absolute masterpiece by giving her all and performing in a way that really showcased the fear and horror of a mother in isolation.”

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Duvall had previously announced her retirement back in 2002 following the comedy Manna From Heaven, though she later appeared on a controversial episode of Dr. Phil in 2016. During that appearance, she revealed that she had been suffering from mental illness and the episode led to many fans — including Vivian Kubrick, the daughter of The Shining director Stanley Kubrick — to openly criticize the show for its treatment of the mentally ill.

In addition to The Shining, in which Duvall played Wendy Torrance, and Annie Hall, Duvall is known for her work in a number of other iconic films, including Brewster McCloud, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, Nashville, Three Women, Popeye, Time Bandits, Roxanne, and The Portrait of a Lady.