Ben Stiller in talks to play Jack Torrance in new West End adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining

‘Zoolander’ star would take on the role made famous by Jack Nicholson

Ben Stiller is reportedly in talks to star in a new West End stage adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining.

The Meet the Fockers actor would play Jack Torrance, the groundskeeper of the remote Overlook Hotel who is driven mad and tries to murder his wife and child.

Jack Nicholson previously played the role in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation, opposite Shelley Duvall.

According to a new report in Deadline, Stiller is in talks to star in an adaptation of the play written by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and directed by Ivo van Hove.

The report claims that the stage play will hew closer to the original 1977 novel than Kubrick’s film, which King famously disliked (though is now regarded as a classic of the horror genre).

The Independent has contacted Stiller’s representative for comment.

Last week, Stiller was seen at the Indian Wells tennis tournament in California, where he was unwittingly dragged into an on-court dispute involving Australian tennis played Nick Kyrgios.

Quarrelling with a member of the crowd whom he accused of disrupting him during the match, Kyrgios gestured to Stiller in the crowd, and loudly said: “Do I tell him how to act? No”.