New projects based on Stephen King stories are announced at a seemingly daily basis, with the latest reveal being the trailer for an adaptation of his novel Doctor Sleep. The book served as a sequel to The Shining, a novel which was previously adapted into a film in 1980. Director of Doctor Sleep Mike Flanagan tweeted out the trailer, which King himself then shared. The author added his own comments about the film, setting high expectations of what audiences can expect, while also plugging the upcoming IT CHAPTER TWO. Check out what King had to say in the below tweet before Doctor Sleep hits theaters on November 8th.
“This movie is going to blow your mind,” King promised. “If you have any left after IT CHAPTER 2, that is.”
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King often shares his support of adaptations ahead of their release, regardless of their quality, with the author sometimes admitting retroactively why a film didn’t work. What makes this endorsement interesting is that the author famously disliked Kubrick’s The Shining, ultimately inspiring him to help develop a miniseries adaptation of the novel in the ’90s. Flanagan himself recently detailed the challenges of honoring not only Kubrick’s film but also King’s original visions.
“When it came to trying to craft the adaptation, I went back to the book first and the big conversation that we had to have was about whether or not we could still do a faithful adaptation of the novel as King had laid it out, while inhabiting the universe that Kubrick had created,” Flanagan shared with press at a Q&A event. “And that was a conversation that we had to have with Stephen King, to kick the whole thing off. If that conversation hadn’t gone the way it went we wouldn’t have done the film.”
He added, “As a lot of you know – I imagine all of you know – Stephen King’s opinions about the Kubrick adaptation are famous and complicated. And complicated to the point that if you’ve read [Doctor Sleep] you know that he actively and intentionally ignored everything that Kubrick had changed about his novel, and defiantly said, ‘Nope, this exists completely outside of the Kubrick universe.’”
The director also noted that he sent the nearly-finished film to both King and Kubrick’s estate, who seemingly approved of Doctor Sleep.
Stay tuned for details on Doctor Sleep, which hits theaters on November 8th.
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