Trailer: DOCTOR SLEEP Pays Glorious Tribute To King And Kubrick’s THE SHINING
Hello
And so opens the trailer for Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, the book-to-film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, which is a sequel to 1977’s The Shining. It’s very clear that Doctor Sleep is treading a very thin line of paying homage to Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation and King’s original novel so as to offer a film that will stand on its own but also be full of easter eggs and treats for those who have followed this iconic horror legacy.
The trailer for Doctor Sleep makes it very clear that this is a Flanagan offering. From the camera angles to the set design, the colors to the glimpses of humanity, the ghosts and so much more, everything here immediately calls to mind The Haunting of Hill House, Gerald’s Game, Before I Wake, and his other titles. It’s because of this that I find myself more than intrigued by Doctor Sleep, I find that I’m genuinely fascinated by what the film has to offer.
Watch the trailer and then join me below to see what I learned when attending an advance screening of the trailer with Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy in attendance.
Mornin
The first thing I want to discuss is all of the footage that looks like it’s HD remastered scenes from Kubrick’s The Shining. However, and get ready for this, pretty much none of it is from the 1980 film. Apart from the “blood flowing out of the elevator” sequence, everything was reshot. That footage of Danny riding his tricycle through the hallways of the Overlook, his wheels spinning on that immediately recognizable carpet? All brand new.
The sequences with the Grady Twins, the ‘Redrum’ door, the old woman in the bathtub, and everything else you saw, were obviously newly shot and can immediately be identified as such but the care that went into them goes deeper than you might realize. Flanagan explained that he and his team were given access by the Kubrick estate to files upon files of information, including annotated plans of the Overlook to help with continuity. Flanagan, always unafraid of showing off his horror nerd excitement, unabashedly gushed about how exciting it was to see those documents.
Every horror fan knows that Stephen King is not the biggest fan of Kubrick’s vision, to put it mildly. The author and his relationship with the 1980 film adaptation has been spoken about at length over the years and it put Flanagan and Co. in a rather awkward position. After all, Doctor Sleep is King’s sequel to his novel The Shining, which completely ignores many of the events and situations that took place during Kubrick’s film adaptation. And yet, it’s a cinematic offering that acknowledges the 1980 vision that has become so culturally significant since its release. It created a delicate balancing act for Flanagan where he had to find a way to work within the parameters of both versions, often running into conflicts that had to be explained lest inconsistencies arose.
Thankfully, Flanagan stated that both the King and Kubrick estates have been incredibly supportive with the script, the vision, and the final product. Flanagan himself, who adapted King’s story Gerald’s Game last year, met with King multiple times and was given the author’s “blessing and encouragement” on this journey.
And for those who are seeking extra treats, the director assured us that the film will be rife with easter eggs that aren’t just from The Shining. In fact, they’ll come from a wide variety of King offerings.
School
So what exactly is Doctor Sleep all about? To ask Flanagan, he must relate it to The Shining. “If The Shining is about addiction, Doctor Sleep is about recovery,” he explains. It’s with this theme strongly in mind that he approached the production, stating that although they knew there were going to be horrific elements (I think the trailer proves this without question) that they “never approached [the film] as horror”. Considering Flanagan’s previous works, I think we can all rest assured that we’ll still get plenty of scares and horror elements.
The film opens with Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor), now going by Dan, some 40 years after the events of the book/film. He’s an alcoholic, much like his father, and he’s at rock bottom. Permanently scarred by the events that beset him and his mother, he lives as a nomad before settling down as an orderly at a hospice. After years of trying to suppress “the shining”, it’s here that his compassion and empathy finds a use for the strange power: when people are in the final moments of their life, Dan comes in and sits with them, using his power to offer some semblance of peace and comfort. This strange ability has the patients and staff calling him “Doctor Sleep”. Flanagan explains that he loves this evolution of Dan’s nickname as it is a throwback to his childhood when Wendy and Jack would call him “Doc” after his love of Bugs Bunny.
Somehow, Dan connects with Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran), a young girl who is also imbued with “the shining”, although she is fully embracing the power and learning the limits of her power, which well exceed that of Torrance. But these two aren’t the only ones with this power.
Enter “Rose the Hat”, who Flanagan emphatically states is the, “best King antagonist in 20 years”. Played by Rebecca Ferguson, Rose is the leader of the True Knot, a small group of people, many of whom also “shine”. These quasi-immortal people are constantly searching for “steam”, a psychic essence that can only be obtained when someone else who also “shines” dies in painful and terrible ways. As Flanagan explains, “She does horrible things. Horrible!”
Joining forces, Abra and Dan must embark on a journey to protect her, redeem him, and face the true nature of their powers.
Redrum
While Flanagan managed to avoid anyone asking about the potential appearance of Jack Torrance in some way, shape, or form, he assured us that we will be seeing Wendy Torrance in the form of Alex Essoe. Additionally, the film will see Dan return to the scene of his trauma when he and Abra go to the Overlook, even so much so that he enters the same room where he and his mother were besieged by Jack and his ax, a moment revealed in the trailer above.
For those who read the book, you’ll know that the “steam” sequences can be incredibly dark and upsetting. When asked how authentic and faithful the film adaptation would be to these moments, a cheeky smile appeared on Flanagan’s face as he leaned forward, brought the mic to his mouth, and said, “We were never going to be PG-13 anyways.”
Doctor Sleep will be coming out right after Halloween, on November 8. It was written and directed by Mike Flanagan and stars Ewan McGregor, Kyliegh Curran, Rebecca Ferguson, Bruce Greenwood, Carel Struycken, Alex Essoe, and Jacob Tremblay.
