Doctor Sleep isn’t the first Stephen King novel that director Mike Flanagan has adapted, but it wasn’t until this movie that he finally got to meet the horror maestro in person. And in a new featurette for the film, Flanagan details his excitement over the encounter, saying: “He’s my hero. He’s been my hero since I was a kid.”
In the video, King and Flanagan discuss the thought process behind Doctor Sleep, which is intended as both an adaptation of King’s novel of the same name and a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining—a film that King has never exactly been fond of.
“My strategy was to honour what Kubrick did and to approach this like it is an authentic sequel to the film that he made,” Flanagan explains over footage of his team faithfully recreating The Overlook down to the last detail, “while also trying to honour themes from the novel The Shining that didn’t make it into the film… One of the things that’s been the biggest honour for me in this is to try to pull those worlds together.”
It seems that Flanagan may have finally helped King come to terms with Kubrick’s film. If nothing else, he seems happy with Flanagan’s adaptation.
“I’m proud to be a part of it,” the author says.
Doctor Sleep shines on in theatres everywhere from November 8th. Sneak a behind-the-scenes look by watching the featurette below.
Words: Samantha McLaren (@themeatispeople)
