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Doctor Sleep (2019 film)

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Doctor Sleep
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMike Flanagan
Screenplay byMike Flanagan
Produced by
  • Trevor Macy
  • Jon Berg
Starring
CinematographyMichael Fimognari
Edited byMike Flanagan
Music byThe Newton Brothers
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
  • October 30, 2019 (2019-10-30) (Worldwide)
  • November 8, 2019 (2019-11-08) (United States)
Running time
152 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$5.6 million[1]

Doctor Sleep is a 2019 American horror film based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Stephen King, which is a sequel to King's 1977 novel The Shining. The film, set decades after the events of The Shining, combines elements of the 1977 novel and its 1980 film adaptation of the same name directed by Stanley Kubrick. Doctor Sleep is written, directed, and edited by Mike Flanagan. It stars Ewan McGregor as Danny Torrance, a man with psychic abilities who struggles with childhood trauma. The film also stars Rebecca Ferguson and Kyliegh Curran in her feature film debut. Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Bruce Greenwood, Jocelin Donahue, Alex Essoe, and Cliff Curtis also feature in supporting roles.[2]

Warner Bros. Pictures began developing a film adaptation shortly after Doctor Sleep was published in 2013. Writer-producer Akiva Goldsman wrote a script, but the studio did not secure a budget for the film until the box-office success of its 2017 horror film It, also based on a novel by King. Flanagan was hired to rewrite Goldsman's script and direct the film. Flanagan said that the film would try and reconcile the differences between The Shining novel and film. Filming began in September 2018 in the state of Georgia, including Atlanta and the surrounding area, and concluded in December 2018.

Warner Bros. released Doctor Sleep in theaters outside the United States and Canada on October 30, 2019. It will release the film in the US and Canada on November 8, 2019. The film has received positive reviews from critics, who have praised Flanagan's direction, faithfulness to both King's novels and Stanley Kubrick's film, and McGregor, Ferguson, and Curran's performances.[3]

Plot

In 1980, sometime after escaping the Overlook Hotel, Danny Torrance and his mother Wendy live in Florida. Danny is haunted by a ghost from the Overlook – the rotting woman in a bath. He is taught by the ghost of Dick Hallorann to lock such ghosts in imaginary "boxes" in his mind. Meanwhile, a cult known as the True Knot, led by Rose the Hat, feed on "steam" produced by the dying moments of people with the Shining ability which Danny also possesses. She recruits a teenage girl called Snakebite Andi into the cult after observing her ability to telepathically control people.

In 2011, Danny, still traumatized by his time in the Overlook, has become an alcoholic to suppress his Shining. He moves to a small town and befriends Billy Freeman, who gets him a job and becomes his AA sponsor. Danny begins to improve and soon finds a job at a hospice; he uses his Shine abilities to comfort dying patients, who give him the nickname "Doctor Sleep". He begins receiving telepathic communications from Abra Stone, a young girl whose Shining is even more powerful than his.

In 2018, the True Knot, who feed on Shining steam to slow their aging, are starving. They abduct a young boy called Bradley, torturing him to death to extract as much steam as they can. A teenage Abra senses the event, and her distress alerts both Danny and Rose. Rose sets her sights on Abra, planning to extract her steam to sustain the cult. Realizing that Rose is after her, Abra visits Danny, who insists that she stay away and avoid drawing attention to herself. That night Rose astral-projects into Abra's mind, but is stunned when the girl manages to trap her and briefly enters Rose's mind. Wounded, Rose returns to her body and sends the True Knot to capture Abra.

Danny is visited by the ghost of Hallorann, who instructs him to protect Abra. Abra tells Danny what happened with Rose and says she can track the cult if she can touch Bradley's baseball glove. Danny tells Billy about the Shining; they travel to the murder scene and exhume the body to retrieve the glove. They go to Abra's house, where they recruit her father Dave and devise a plan. Using an astral projection of Abra as bait, Danny and Billy lure the cult members out and shoot most of them dead, though Snakebite Andi telepathically manipulates Billy into killing himself before dying.

Rose's lover, Crow Daddy, kills Dave and abducts Abra, drugging her to suppress her shine. Danny communicates with Abra, who allows him to possess her temporarily; they make Crow Daddy crash his car, killing him and freeing Abra. While Danny and Abra reunite, Rose consumes the cult's stockpile of steam, healing her wounds and vowing revenge for their deaths. Danny decides to return to the abandoned Overlook, believing it will be as dangerous for Rose as it is for him and Abra. He starts up the hotel's boiler and explores the building, "awakening" it in the process. Danny revisits the rooms where his father Jack, influenced by the Overlook, attempted to murder him and Wendy. At the hotel bar, Dan is offered alcohol by a bartender who strongly resembles Jack.

Rose arrives at the hotel. Abra and Danny attempt to lock her in a box in Danny's mind, but fail. Abra flees as Danny is overpowered by Rose. As she drains Danny of his steam, he opens the boxes to release several of the Overlook's ghosts, who quickly surround and kill Rose. The ghosts possess Danny, who begins to hunt for Abra. When she manages to free him momentarily, he tells her to flee the hotel. Struggling with possession, Danny returns to the boiler room, which becomes engulfed in flames. In his last moment, Danny sees a vision of himself as a child being embraced by his mother Wendy. Abra watches helplessly as the hotel burns down, and later talks to the ghost of Danny as he tells her that he is at peace. Abra's mother Lucy learns to adjust with her daughter's powers especially in communicating with the spirit of her deceased husband. Abra confronts and faces the ghost of the rotting woman from the Overlook.

Cast

  • Ewan McGregor as Dan Torrance, an alcoholic man with psychic powers known as "the shining". The character first appeared as a child in the film The Shining, played by Danny Lloyd. Roger Dale Floyd plays Danny as a child in flashback scenes.
  • Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat, head of the True Knot, a cult that feeds on children with psychic powers
  • Kyliegh Curran as Abra Stone, a girl with "the shining".[nb 1]
  • Carl Lumbly as Dick Hallorann, the former cook of the Overlook Hotel who has "the shining". Dick was originally played by Scatman Crothers in The Shining.[6]
  • Zahn McClarnon as Crow Daddy, Rose the Hat's right-hand man
  • Emily Alyn Lind as Snakebite Andi, a member of the True Knot
  • Bruce Greenwood as Dr. John Dalton, leader of Dan's AA group and his boss at the hospice
  • Jocelin Donahue as Lucy Stone, Abra's mother
  • Alex Essoe as Wendy Torrance, Danny's mother. Wendy was originally played by Shelley Duvall in The Shining.[6]
  • Cliff Curtis as Billy Freeman, Dan's friend, co-worker, and AA sponsor
  • Zackary Momoh as Dave Stone, Abra's father
  • Jacob Tremblay as Bradley Trevor, a victim of the True Knot
  • Henry Thomas as The Bartender, a ghostly apparition in the Overlook Hotel who introduces himself as Lloyd but resembles Jack Torrance, Dan's father. Thomas also portrays Jack in a flashback sequence. Jack and Lloyd were portrayed in The Shining by Jack Nicholson and Joe Turkel respectively.[citation needed]

The film also features Carel Struycken as Grandpa Flick, Robert Longstreet as Barry the Chunk, Catherine Parker as Silent Sarey, Met Clark as Short Eddie, and Selena Anduze as Apron Annie (all True Knot members). Sadie and Kk Heim portray the Grady Twins, with Kaitlyn McCormick and Molly Jackson providing their voices; the characters were played by Lisa and Louise Burns in The Shining. Danny Lloyd, who originally played Danny Torrance in The Shining, makes a cameo appearance as Bradley Trevor's father.

Connections to The Shining novel and film

Further information: The Shining (film) § Comparison with the novel

Doctor Sleep is based on the 2013 horror novel of the same name by Stephen King. The novel is a sequel to King's 1977 novel The Shining. The 1977 novel was adapted into a 1980 horror film of the same name by director Stanley Kubrick. King was critical of Kubrick's film adaptation to the point of writing and executive-producing a new adaptation with the 1997 television miniseries.[7]

While the film Doctor Sleep is intended to be a direct adaptation of the 2013 sequel novel, director Mike Flanagan said Doctor Sleep would still "acknowledge Kubrick's The Shining in some way".[8] Flanagan said, "It is an adaptation of the novel Doctor Sleep, which is Stephen King's sequel to his novel, The Shining. But this also exists very much in the same cinematic universe that Kubrick established in his adaptation of The Shining."[9] He explained working with all the sources, "Reconciling those three, at times very different, sources has been kind of the most challenging and thrilling part of this creatively for us."[10] He first visited the novel then had a conversation with King to work out adapting both sources. As part of the process, Flanagan recreated scenes from The Shining to use in flashbacks.[9] He also avoided the horror film trope of jump scares as The Shining did.[11]

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures began developing a film adaptation of Doctor Sleep as early as 2014.[12] In 2016, writer-producer Akiva Goldsman announced that he would write and produce the film for Warner Bros.[13] For several years, Warner Bros. could not secure a budget for Doctor Sleep or for a prequel to The Shining to be called Overlook Hotel.[14] In late 2017, Warner Bros. released It, a film adaptation of King's 1986 novel of the same name, and its box-office success led the studio to fast-track production of Doctor Sleep. Warner Bros. hired Mike Flanagan in January 2018 to rewrite Goldsman's script and to direct the film.[15] Flanagan said why he was interested in directing Doctor Sleep, "It touches on themes that are the most attractive to me, which are childhood trauma leading into adulthood, addiction, the breakdown of a family, and the after effects, decades later."[16] From June to November 2018, the cast was assembled.[17][18]

Filming began in September 2018 in the US state of Georgia; locations included Atlanta and St. Simons.[19] In the area of Atlanta, specific locations included Covington, Canton, Stone Mountain, Midtown, Porterdale, and Fayetteville.[20] Production concluded in December 2018.[21] By January 2019, Flanagan was editing the film.[22]

The film score will be composed by The Newton Brothers (Andy Grush and Taylor Stewart), who also composed scores for Flanagan's previous works.[23]

Themes

Author Stephen King said he wrote Doctor Sleep since he wondered what Danny Torrance would be like if he grew up. Flanagan said in the film, "Danny is so traumatized by what he's been through, he has no idea how to deal with this." McGregor said, "Dan Torrance's philosophy early on in the story is not to use the shining. He's drunk to suppress the horrible visitations, the spirits that are from the Overlook Hotel."[24]

Release

Warner Bros. Pictures released Doctor Sleep in theaters globally on October 30, 2019. It will release the film in theaters in the United States and Canada on November 8, 2019.[25] It was initially scheduled to be released on January 24, 2020. Deadline Hollywood said the re-scheduling reflected Warner Bros. giving "a major vote of confidence" to the film.[26]

BoxOffice predicted that Doctor Sleep would gross between $20 million and $30 million on its opening weekend in the United States and Canada. The magazine wrote, "Early social and trailer trends are indicative of a potential box office hit should reviews and audience reception prove favorable," but added, "Doctor Sleep's primary barrier to breakout status could be how reliant it is on younger audience familiarity with the source Stephen King novels and/or The Shining. That crowd has proven to be a big element in the breakout nature of recent horror hits."[27]

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 96 reviews with an average rating of 6.95/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Doctor Sleep forsakes the elemental terror of its predecessor for a more contemplative sequel that balances poignant themes against spine-tingling chills."[28] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Curran played Young Nala in a Broadway production of The Lion King in 2016. She also appeared in the 2017 independent film I Can I Will I Did.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ "Doctor Sleep (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  2. ^ "Doctor Sleep - Final Trailer [HD]". YouTube. Warner Bros. Pictures. September 8, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019. 'Doctor Sleep' stars Ewan McGregor... as Dan Torrance, Rebecca Ferguson... as Rose the Hat, and Kyliegh Curran, in her major feature film debut, as Abra. The main ensemble cast also includes Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Bruce Greenwood, Jocelin Donahue, Alex Essoe and Cliff Curtis.
  3. ^ a b "Doctor Sleep reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  4. ^ Staff. "Kyliegh Curran". Playbill. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  5. ^ Romano, Nick (August 30, 2018). "Doctor Sleep casts a 'shining' young star as Abra Stone". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 15, 2019. The Doctor Sleep movie has found its Abra Stone. Kyliegh Curran, the young actress who appeared as Nala in Broadway's The Lion King and in the indie film I Can I Will I Did, has been cast in the key role for the film that's based on Stephen King's sequel to The Shining.
  6. ^ a b Fleming Jr, Mike (August 1, 2018). "'Doctor Sleep' Gets Carl Lumbly For Dick Halloran, Alex Essoe For Wendy Torrance". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  7. ^ Fujitani, Ryan (October 30, 2018). "Every upcoming Stephen King movie adaptation". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 31, 2018. It's no secret that King himself was critical of the 1980 Stanley Kubrick adaptation of his novel The Shining – so much so that he wrote and produced a new adaptation in the form of a TV miniseries in 1997.
  8. ^ Topel, Fred (October 1, 2018). "'Doctor Sleep' Director Mike Flanagan Talks Acknowledging Kubrick's 'The Shining' and Contacting Original Danny [Exclusive]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Polowy, Kevin (June 13, 2019). "The return of 'redrum': See the first trailer for 'Doctor Sleep,' the long-awaited sequel to 'The Shining'". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  10. ^ Evangelista, Chris (June 13, 2019). "'Doctor Sleep' Trailer Breakdown: Head Back to the Overlook Hotel With 'The Shining' Sequel". SlashFilm. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  11. ^ Sharf, Zack (June 13, 2019). "'Doctor Sleep' Director on Recreating Kubrick's Iconic 'Shining' Scenes and Banning Jump Scares". IndieWire. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  12. ^ Kroll, Justin (July 18, 2014). "'The Shining' Prequel to Be Directed by Mark Romanek (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved October 26, 2018. In 2013, King published a 'Shining' sequel 'Dr. Sleep,' which Warners is also trying to get off the ground.
  13. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (March 31, 2016). "Akiva Goldsman Adapting Stephen King's 'The Shining' Sequel 'Doctor Sleep'". Tracking Board. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  14. ^ Kroll, Justin (June 28, 2018). "Rebecca Ferguson Joins Ewan McGregor in 'The Shining' Sequel (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  15. ^ Fleming Jr, Mike (January 26, 2018). "Mike Flanagan To Helm Stephen King's 'The Shining' Sequel 'Doctor Sleep'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  16. ^ Radish, Christina (October 14, 2018). "Mike Flanagan on 'The Haunting of Hill House' & 'The Shining' Sequel, 'Doctor Sleep'". Collider. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  17. ^ Kroll, Justin (June 13, 2018). "Ewan McGregor to Star in New 'Shining' Movie 'Doctor Sleep' (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  18. ^ Staff (November 9, 2018). "Jacob Tremblay Scores $100k Movie Deal for Sequel to 'The Shining'". TMZ. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  19. ^ Marc, Jonathan (July 10, 2018). "Ewan McGregor's 'Doctor Sleep' to begin shooting in Atlanta at the end of September". Geeks WorldWide. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  20. ^ Walljasper, Matt (October 29, 2018). "What's filming in Atlanta now? Doctor Sleep, The Banker, Stranger Things, Avengers, Watchmen, and more". Atlanta. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  21. ^ Nordine, Michael (December 1, 2018). "'The Shining' Sequel About Grown-Up Danny Torrance by 'The Haunting of Hill House' Director Wraps Production". IndieWire. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  22. ^ Schonter, Allison (January 28, 2019). "'Haunting of Hill House' Creator Mike Flanagan Updates Status of 'Shining' Sequel 'Doctor Sleep'". popculture.movies. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  23. ^ Couch, Aaron (December 6, 2018). "'Doctor Sleep' Sets Newton Brothers as Composers (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  24. ^ Legaspi, Althea (October 2, 2019). "Stephen King, Ewan McGregor Talk Danny's Trauma in New 'Doctor Sleep' Interview". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  25. ^ "Doctor Sleep - Official Teaser Trailer [HD]". YouTube. Warner Bros. June 13, 2019. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  26. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 30, 2019). "Warner Bros. Release Dates Galore: 'Doctor Sleep' Checks In This November, 'The Witches' Oct. 2020; 'The Suicide Squad' Returns In 2021". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  27. ^ Robbins, Shawn (September 13, 2019). "Long Range Forecast: Doctor Sleep, Last Christmas, Midway, & Playing with Fire". BoxOffice. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  28. ^ "Doctor Sleep (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
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