Mike Flanagan on recasting The Shining characters in Doctor Sleep

October 25th 2019, 4:20pm

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE director Mike Flanagan's adaptation of DOCTOR SLEEP – Stephen King's sequel to THE SHINING – is coming next month. And today Flanagan talked a bit about recasting the iconic characters from Stanly Kubrick's THE SHINING nearly four decades later.

Flanagan said:

That was the hardest part of this, I think because the only other option is to do some kind of digital thing where you try to recreate another actor and I don't feel like the technology is quite there yet. It always distracts me and I always start looking at the tech, so I didn't wanna do that. I didn't want people to come in and do an impression, I wanted people to come in and do their version of Wendy Torrance or Dick Hallorann. Because we're using so much of the visual language of the [Stanley] Kubrick film, I wanted these actors to remind me of Shelley Duvall and of Scatman Crothers and that was enough, if they could have just a couple of notes that reminded me of those other actors and then, take the character over from there into a new place, that's what I wanted. I hope we pulled that off. It's gonna be one of the more controversial aspects of the movie, to be sure.

You can get a first look at the film at around 400 theaters across the nation with exclusive early access screenings on October 30th – nine days before the film's U.S. release. Participating theatre chains include AMC Theatres, Regal, Cinemark, Marcus Theatres, Harkins Theatres, and many more.

Check if your local theater's participating HERE.

The movie has been slapped with an R-rating for "disturbing and violent content, some bloody images, language, nudity and drug use", and will run 2 hours and 32 minutes. You can go ahead and give the trailer a look-see above and then make sure to hit us up and let us know what you think!

It has the following synopsis:

Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.

Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before — at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

The much-anticipated flick also stars Kyleigh Curran as Abra Stone, Carl Lumbly as Dick Halloran, Alex Essoe as Wendy Torrance, Bruce Greenwood as Danny's friend Dr. John Dalton, Rebecca Ferguson as cult leader Rose the Hat, Zahn McClarnon as her right-hand man Crow Daddy, and Jocelin Donahue in an unspecified role. Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Stephen King's DOCTOR SLEEP shines into theaters on November 8, 2019.