Gerald’s Game director Mike Flanagan says he wants to adapt Stephen King’s The Shining sequel novel, which is titled Doctor Sleep. Flanagan’s Netflix psychological horror film is an adaptation of King’s novel of the same name, starring Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood as married couple Gerald and Jessie Burlingame.
Doctor Sleep was released in 2009 as a sequel to King’s most famous work, The Shining, which was released in 1977. The novel follows a grown-up Danny Torrance, who has taken up his father Jack’s legacy of anger and alcoholism. While traveling across the country, he settles down in the small town of Frazier, New Hampshire, having given up drinking – only for his suppressed psychic abilities to reemerge.
In an interview with Liljas Library, Flanagan discusses what it was like adapting the “unfilmable” Gerald’s Game novel and which King book he would like to adapt next. Flanagan is currently filming the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, but is very much interested in returning to the world of Stephen King in the future. Here is what he said:
Lilja: If you could pick another King book to film. Which would you pick and why?
Mike Flanagan: There are so many. But the ones I’d want to do the most are DOCTOR SLEEP and LISEY’S STORY. In both cases, it’s because I identify with the protagonists so much. LISEY’S STORY is a stunning piece of work, a beautiful exploration of marriage. And who wouldn’t want to venture back into the world of Danny Torrence?
The Doctor Sleep novel also follows the story of Abra Stone, a baby girl born in 2001 who manifests psychic powers of her own and connects with Danny. While Abra’s powers grow, she becomes threatened by the True Knot, a group of quasi-immortals who wander across America and feed on “steam” – psychic essence produced when the people who possess the shining die in horrible pain.
This isn’t the first time we have heard news of a film adaptation of Doctor Sleep. It was announced last year that Akiva Goldsman had been tapped by Warner Bros. with producers Jon Berg and and Jon Gonda set to bring the novel to the big screen. Last we heard, the project was without a director – so for all we know, Flanagan may yet get his chance at adapting the Shining sequel novel for the big screen.
Gerald's Game Director Wants to Adapt The Shining Sequel