Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” has always been the one film adaptation of Stephen King’s novels that has stuck in the author’s craw.
While he’s toned down the volume on his hatred of the film over the years, he was never pleased with it, and felt that Kubrick had ignored many of the thematic elements of the book. He also didn’t think Jack Nicholson was a good choice for the lead Jack Torrance saying that audiences would easily figure out that the character was eventually going to snap. King’s softened position on the film (he still doesn’t like it, but he’s less vociferous about it) has probably been assisted by the now classic and cult status the film has achieved, attaining a place in pop culture few movies ever reach. King got see his own cinematic vision of his novel realized when we supervised a 1997 TV mini-series, but it was received largely with indifference.
Well, King still hasn’t left the characters of the Overlook Hotel behind, and speaking recently at a Q&A in Toronto moderated by David Cronenberg (yes, the director — talk about your dream matchups) the author spoke about a possible sequel to “The Shining” (which would undoubtedly be optioned for film). The premise would be as follows:
Danny is now 40-years-old and living in upstate New York, where he works as the equivalent of an orderly at a hospice for the terminally ill. Danny’s real job is to visit with patients who are just about to pass on to the other side, and to help them make that journey with the aid of his mysterious powers. Danny also has a sideline in betting on the horses, a trick he learned from his buddy Dick Hallorann.
It sounds interesting to the say the least, but King did have a caveat with the news saying that he hasn’t put pen to paper yet and if he talks about it too much he might lose interest altogether. That said, he already has a tentative title kicking around, Doctor Sleep, so certainly its something that seems to have rattling around his brain for a while. We hope he stops talking, and gets writing.
You know what? We’re on board for a potential sequel. It seems far enough removed from the Overlook that it will be a different spin on some of the more metaphysical aspects from the first novel, and picking the story four decades later with Danny Torrance seems like the right way to go.
King has been chatting up a storm on his current book tour for “Under The Dome” (which our editor-in-chief is currently reading and says is “fucking fantastic”) talking about (among many other things) an HBO mini-series, an film version of his novel “Cell” (with a new ending) and his Broadway musicals. You can read more details in our report here.