We have known for some time now that a feature adaptation of Stephen King’s novel ‘Doctor Sleep’ was destined to make for the big screen, but now, following the success of ‘IT,’ Hollywood is putting ‘Doctor Sleep’ on the fast track. Taking the helm for the adaptation will be ‘Oculus’ and ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’ director Mike Flanagan.
‘Doctor Sleep,’ published in 2013, serves as a sequel to King’s iconic 1977 horror ‘The Shining,’ picking up with Jack Torrence’s son Danny who is now a middle-aged man. Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Danny (now going by Dan) has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence.
Settling in a New Hampshire town, Dan finds an AA community that sustains him and a gets a job as a orderly at a nursing home where he uses his remnant “shining” power to bring comfort to the dying patients. However, just as Dan begins to settle into his new role, he establishes a psychic connection with Abra Stone, a young girl who shares his psychic abilities and is being targeted by The True Knot, a tribe of quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.
According to Deadline, Flanagan plans to rewrite the script, which originally penned by Akiva Goldsman (‘The Dark Tower,’ ‘Winter’s Tale,’ ‘Cinderella Man’). Producers for the film include Jon Berg of Vertigo Entertainment and Trevor Macy. Goldsman is on board to serve as executive producer.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of King, having recently directed an adaptation of King’s ‘Gerald’s Game’ for Netflix.