The twins of 'The Shining': why did they hide their most famous role for many years?

BarcelonaThey are some of the most terrifying images in cinema history: the two twins from The Shining, the adaptation Stanley Kubrick made of Stephen King's classic. They played two girls who had been murdered by their father in the terrifying Overlook Hotel and who appeared to the child protagonist of the film. "Hello Danny. Come play with us, forever, and ever, and ever" was their only line. But Kubrick's way of filming, and an editing that alternated the living girls with flashes of their dismembered bodies, made it traumatic not only for Danny, but also for the viewer.

The two girls who embodied the characters were the Burns sisters (not twins). Their names are Lisa and Louise, and one day they decided to go down to London from their town north of the city to attend an open casting without suspecting that, after passing several rounds, they would meet Kubrick. When he asked them something, they both answered in unison. This, along with an ethereal voice, charmed the director who hired them.

But the role, in this film about a haunted hotel, carried a curse: when they tried to continue acting, schools like RADA rejected them because they had already participated in a film as professionals. In fact, for many years the two young women hid that they had appeared in The Shining so that they could participate in some university plays. Lisa Burns ended up studying literature and currently works as a lawyer, while her sister Louise is a microbiologist and has published some scientific studies. After years of silence, they decided to reclaim their story and maintain profiles on social media where, paradoxically, they share happy memories of when they were terror twins.