Ewan McGregor To Lead “Shining” Sequel
Following on from his successful adaptation of “Gerald’s Game,” filmmaker Mike Flanagan is staying in the Stephen King wheelhouse and has been set to direct “Doctor Sleep” at Warner Bros. Pictures.
“Doctor Sleep” is King’s 2013 novel follow-up to “The Shining” and follows a now forty-something Danny Torrance struggling with the same demons of anger and alcoholism that plagued his father.
Danny sobers up and uses his gift to help the dying at a hospice, only to establish a psychic connection with a young girl who shares his extreme abilities and who is being targeted by a sinister group who wants to exploit them both.
Flanagan will rewrite the script originally adapted by Akiva Goldsman. Goldsman, Trevor Macy and Jon Berg will produce. Flanagan is currently in production on a new event series adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” for Netflix.
Ewan McGregor will star as the adult Danny Torrance in the adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Shining” sequel novel “Doctor Sleep” for Warner Bros.’ Pictures.
In the film Torrance carries the trauma of the Overlook Hotel into adulthood, and has become a reflection of his murderous father, with lingering rage and a drinking problem that dulls his pain as well as his ‘shining’ powers.
Those powers return when he embraces sobriety and uses his gift to help the dying at a hospice. He establishes a psychic connection with a young girl who shares his extreme abilities, and who is being targeted by a group who make others like them suffer painful deaths in order to absorb their powers.
King has reportedly given his blessing to McGregor’s casting. Mike Flanagan, who scored raves for his King adaptation “Gerald’s Game,” helms the new film with Trevor Macy and Jon Berg producing.
The news comes as the King renaissance continues with his novel “The Outsider” optioned by production company Media Rights Capital for a limited series run. MRC is planning for a ten-episode adaptation, with novelist and screenwriter Richard Price tapped to pen the pilot episode.
