Hello friends! In the world of movies, there has been a big announcement:
Ewan McGregor will be starring as Danny Torrence in the sequel to "The Shining": "Doctor Sleep"
And yeah! This is kinda cool because I love Ewan McGregor! Hello there, General Kenobi. I love you. And I love "The Shining" (enough to write an analytical article about it), so this should be something I'm really excited about... But there's a big thing that the media isn't really addressing about this sequel.
All the stories I've read about the film and its casting say that Danny Torrence was famously portrayed by Danny Lloyd in 1980, and that's true. However, Lloyd is not the only person to portray Danny "Doc" Torrence.
In 1997, Courtland Mead played Danny in the three-part miniseries that would make up Stephen King's "The Shining".
"But why was there another version of 'The Shining' made in 1997? The first one was a classic!"
Yes, you're right. But "The Shining" (1980) was more of director and screenwriter Stanley Kubrick's interpretation of the characters in King's original novel. And it's absolutely nothing like it.
Stephen King hates the film and considers it not to be an adaptation of his novel at all—so much so that in 1997, he adapted it himself into a miniseries that no one watched and furthermore no one liked.
"Doctor Sleep" is a great book and a great sequel to Stephen King's "The Shining", I just don't think that this is going to be the sequel to the 1980 horror movie that everyone is hoping it will be and that the media is selling it to be.
There are a lot of elements of the novel "Doctor Sleep" that just don't make sense with the story presented to us in "The Shining" (1980) and with Stephen King reportedly contributing heavily to the screenplay, I'm skeptical to see Jack Nicholson in any flashbacks. So, if that's what you're hoping for from this movie, I wouldn't hold your breath.
But who knows? I've been wrong before.
"Doctor Sleep", the sequel to one of "The Shining" films is scheduled to hit theaters January 24th, 2020.
