The director of The Haunting of Hill House is creating a movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep.
Doctor Sleep is King’s sequel to the terrifying story of the Torrance family, The Shining. The sequel will be based on the grownup version of traumatized Danny Torrance, who is to be played by Ewan McGregor.
Stephen King is the master of fictional horror and after the huge success of The Haunting of Hill House, it’s fair to say that director Michael Flannagan is a master of the genre too. Putting King’s story together with Flannagan’s directional skills is a recipe for genius.
Still, the director is treading carefully when it comes to making the adaptation. He has expressed his concerns about protecting The Shining.
“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,” he said.
“At the same time, this is not The Shining. It’s its own story and in a very specific way,” he continued. “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.”
Stephen King is presumably pleased to learn that the task of bringing his novel Doctor Sleep is in the hands of Mike Flannagan. He recently praised the director on Twitter.
King tweeted: “THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, revised and remodelled by Mike Flanagan. I don’t usually care for this kind of revisionism, but this is great. Close to a work of genius, really. I think Shirley Jackson would approve, but who knows for sure.”
The movie adaptation of Doctor Sleep will be in cinemas January 2020.
