DOCTOR SLEEP Will Acknowledge Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING
I’m sure a few of you might have been wondering if the big screen adaptation of Doctor Sleep might connect to Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining. The story for Doctor Sleep is a sequel to King’s novel, but there are some big differences between the novel and Kubrick’s film.
If you’re a fan of Kubrick’s film, you’ll be happy to learn that the film version of Doctor Sleep will acknowledge the events that took place in The Shining. Director Mike Flanagan recently talked to Bloody-Disgusting about this and when asked about it, he said:
“I think you do have to acknowledge that. There is no version of the world where I am trying not to acknowledge one of the greatest films ever made. There’s no upside in shying away from that reality. At the same time, this is not The Shining.
“It’s its own story and in a very specific way. If you’ve read the book, you know exactly why it’s so different but it’s quite a tightrope that we’re walking I think. I’m having a great time doing it. I’m just going to get the movie out and then turn off the internet for two weeks and see how it all goes.”
Doctor Sleep follows a grown-up version of Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor). The part was originally by Danny Lloyd in Kubrick’s film. Lloyd is now a teacher, but Flanagan did reach out to him for some reason, but he won’t say why.
“It’s interesting, he’s a teacher, lives in the midwest. We definitely spoke to him. I don’t want to spoil anything but yeah, we absolutely got in touch.”
I imagine that they offered Lloyd a role in Doctor Sleep, but they obviously aren’t revealing who he’s playing or any other information on that matter.
Doctor Sleep serves as a sequel to The Shining which centers on Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny as they live in the haunted Overlook Hotel during the winter season to take care of it. It's there that the hotel possesses Jack and he slowly becomes possessed by the hotel and nightmarishly torments his wife and son.
Doctor Sleep takes place several years after the events that took place at the Overlook Hotel. It focuses on Jack's son Danny who is now a middle-aged man. He is still traumatized by what happened at the hotel all those years ago, and he throughout his life has had to deal with anger management and alcoholism issues. However, in an effort to get his life back together, he gives up drinking and settles down in a small town in New Hampshire. It is at this point in his life where his psychic abilities start to resurface and he develops a psychic link with a 12-year-old girl named Abra Stone. Turns out this girl's life is being threatened by a tribe of paranormals who suck the energy from people. They are led by a man named Rose the Hat and Danny has to save her from them.