Director Mike Flanagan took on quite a challenge in making Doctor Sleep, the new sequel to The Shining.
The delicate balance of being faithful to the original Shining movie by Stanley Kubrick, the original Shining book by Stephen King and his Doctor Sleep novel.
The 1980 Shining movie is widely considered to be not only one of the best horror movies, but one of the best films ever. However, Stephen King was not a fan.
So when Mike was in talks to make Doctor Sleep he told Stephen he idolizes him and Kubrick’s movie and eventually landed the job.
When the film was finished, he traveled to Maine to show Mr. King his finished product. Mike tells Entertainment weekly:
"I sat with him in an empty theater and watched the movie with him. I spent the whole movie trying not to throw up, and staring at my own foot, and kind of overanalyzing every single noise he made next to me. The film ended, and the credits came up, and he leaned over and he put his hand on my shoulder, and he said, ‘You did a beautiful job.’ And then I just died. The rest of the day we talked a lot about Kubrick, we talked a lot about his other adaptations...He was like, ‘Having watched this film it actually warms my feelings up towards the Kubrick film.’ That’s when I really kind of freaked out."
Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep is in theaters today. Dare to experience it in IMAX.
Photo: Warner Bros.