‘Doctor Sleep’ Will Acknowledge Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’
Mike Flanagan’s adaptation ofStephen King’sDoctor Sleepistechnicallya sequel toThe Shining–but that causes a problem. As any King fan can tell you,Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation ofThe Shiningis very different from King’s book, which raises a question: will Flanagan’s film ignoreThe Shiningmovie adaptation entirely, or will the filmmaker reference Kubrick’s classic in some capacity? We now know the answer.
In an interview withBloody Disgusting, Mike Flanagan makes it official:Doctor Sleepwill acknowledge Kubrick’sThe Shining. “I think you do have to acknowledge that,” the filmmaker says. “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.”
If you’ve never read King’sThe Shiningand only know the story via Kubrick’s wildly popular film, this might seem like a no-brainer. But Kubrick took great liberties with King’s text – something that drove King nuts. So much so that he agreed to pen a mini-series remake ofThe Shiningthat stuck much closer to the source material (spoiler alert: it ended up being bad). King’sDoctor Sleepbook serves as a sequel to hisShiningnovel, not Kubrick’s film. But since a large portion of the movie going public likely associatesThe Shiningwith Kubrick’s unfaithful adaptation, turningDoctor Sleepinto a movie raises a few potential problems.
When the film adaptation was announced, I wondered if Flanagan would ignore Kubrick’s work entirely, but that’s apparently not the case. I’m very curious to see how the filmmaker addresses this issue. “At the same time, this is notThe Shining,” Flanagan adds to Bloody Disgusting, going on to say:
“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.”
InDoctor Sleep, Danny Torrance, the young psychic boy fromThe Shining, is all grown-up but still dealing with the physical and emotional trauma from his time at the Overlook Hotel. Over the course of the story, Danny becomes the protector of a young girl who also possess the shining powers, and who is being targeted by a nomadic gang of psychic vampires (yeah, it’s weird).Ewan McGregorplays Danny, and the rest of the cast featuresRebecca Ferguson,Zahn McClarnon,Carl Lumbly,Bruce Greenwood,Emily Alyn Lind, andKyleigh Curran.
