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[Interview] Eight New Things We’ve Learned About ‘Doctor Sleep’!

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By now you’ve certainly seen the trailer for Doctor Sleep, the long-awaited follow-up to The Shining from writer/director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House). The preview featured surprising imagery evoking Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, but also seemed to indicate a faithfulness to the novel by Stephen King.

In a Q&A immediately after the premiere of the trailer in Los Angeles, Flanagan and his producing partner Trevor Macy answered questions from the press about the film’s production, its unique status as a sequel to multiple versions of the same story, and what sort of Easter Eggs fans will see in the film, which opens in theaters on November 8, 2019.

These are the most fascinating stories that came from the filmmakers!


Doctor Sleep is a Sequel to Stephen King’s Novel AND Stanley Kubrick’s Film

Given the differences between Stephen King’s classic novel and Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, an adaptation of King’s “Doctor Sleep” would presumably have to make a choice: follow the books, or follow the film. Right?

Not necessarily.

“It’s the most common question we’ve had since the project was announced, and the question that we couldn’t really answer until we had material to present,” Mike Flanagan said. “Because the answer is really complicated. The answer to all of those questions for us has always been, ‘yes’.”

“It is an adaptation of the novel ‘Doctor Sleep’, which is Stephen King’s sequel to his novel ‘The Shining’. But this also exists very much in the same cinematic universe that Kubrick established in his adaptation of The Shining,” Flanagan continued, “and reconciling those three, at times very different sources has been kind of the most challenging and thrilling part of this creatively, for us.”

“First and foremost the movie is kind of its own thing,” Trevor Macy added. “And has been embraced by the Kubrick estate and by King as such. But in a very real sense we’re standing on the shoulders of literary and cinematic giants.”

“Which has been, you know, no pressure,” Flanagan joked.


Stephen King Had to Agree to the Kubrick Ideas

“Very, very carefully,” Mike Flanagan explained, “and over a lot of trial and error initially, 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.”

“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,” Flanagan revealed.

“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 the book 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,” he added.

“So the first conversation we had to have, other than that we as – fans of King and apostles of The Shining – really needed to try to bring those worlds back together again,” Flanagan continued.

“We had to go to King and explain how, and some of that amounts to very practical questions about certain characters who are alive in the novel, ‘The Shining’, who are not alive by the end of the film,” Flanagan said. “How do I deal with that? And in particular how to get into the vision of the Overlook that Kubrick had created.”

“And our pitches to Stephen went over surprisingly well, and we came out of the conversation with not only his blessing to do what we ended up doing, but his encouragement,” Flanagan said.

“This project has had for me the two most nerve-racking moments of my entire career,” the director then confessed.

“The first was sending the first draft of the script to Stephen King, and that was utterly terrifying, but he thankfully really loved it. And the second was at the end, very recently, of this post-production process when the film was sent to Stephen to watch and also to the Kubrick estate.”

“Both went very well, and that was always the hope going in, that there was some universe in which Stephen King and the Stanley Kubrick estate could both love this movie. That is the dream. Threading that needle has been the source of every ulcer we’ve had for the last two years,” Flanagan said.


There’s Only One Shot in the Trailer from The Shining

The footage from the first Doctor Sleep trailer features surprising footage of Danny Torrance and the Overlook Hotel, but even though it looks Kubrickian, only one shot in the preview was from Kubrick’s The Shining

“It’s interesting too because what you’ve seen today, in the more iconic imagery that’s been on the screen, that isn’t taken from the Kubrick film,” Flanagan explained. “There’s only one shot in the trailer you saw that’s actually his footage, and that’s the shot of the bloody elevators.”

“Everything else is us. Everything else is our recreation. So I don’t want to spoil to what extent and what specific, outside of what you already got to see, what we have kind of been able to revisit form Kubrick’s world,” Flanagan teased. “But I can say that everything that we decided to use, our intention was always to detail and reverence, and making sure that we were doing it properly, with the hope that even the most rabid cinephiles might not be able to tell the difference with some of our frames and some of his.”

“That’s always been the goal, Flanagan concluded. “We were able to do that with the full support of the Kubrick estate, who were willing to provide us with his designs.”


Doctor Sleep Was Not Made Like a Modern Horror Movie

The Shining may be a classic horror movie, but some younger audiences might not fall under its spell, since trends of horror have evolved in the ensuing decades. It’s a concern that Flanagan thinks he has an answer to.

“It’s interesting because I’ve had that experience where I’ve shown someone The Shining and they don’t see what the fuss is about,” the director explained.

“I think one of the solutions to that for us was we never approached this movie as a horror movie. We always wanted to try to come at it from a different side. We’ve done that for a lot of our things but I don’t know if it’s ever been more true than with this one,” he continued. “It has horrific elements, absolutely, but one of the things that we were trying to be very careful to do is not to create the expectation that this is a modern horror movie in the way that people expect it.

“One of the questions that I would ask,” Flanagan added, “when we were developing the project and when we were talking about the metered expectations audiences have about, in particular, jump scares and startles and the pacing of those, which we’re utterly uninterested in this film, [was] I would say, ‘What’s your favorite jump scare in The Shining?’”

“There isn’t one. The same is true here. We used a lot of the lessons that Kubrick taught us about how to do a psychological thriller, a supernatural thriller, in a way that is more about suffocating atmosphere and tension than it ever is about the kind of traditional scares as we understand them today,” Flanagan concluded. “So in light of that, we have been very careful not to make the kind of movie that those audiences would expect.”


The Big Argument: A Door Number

The notorious and ominous room that Danny is warned about in The Shining is different in the novel than in the film. The novel set the disturbing action in Room 217, whereas Kubrick’s adaptation moved it to Room 237. (The hotel managers of The Timberline Lodge, which was used for exteriors, were afraid nobody would want Room 217 again, so Kubrick changed it to a room number they didn’t have.)

“I’ll tell you one of the most robust arguments we had was about whether the door would be 237 or 217,” Flanagan explained. “Robust argument.”

“And we went back and forth about four times in prep,” Trevor Macy added.


There Will Be Easter Eggs

Mike Flanagan may get asked about King’s novel and Kubrick’s movie the most, but he knows The Shining has other adaptations and influences.

“I actually have quite a bit of admiration for the mini-series,” Flanagan says, referring to the 1997 mini-series directed by Mick Garris, and adapted by King himself. “Because of not only where they chose to shoot it – at the Stanley, which is really meaningful just as far as the genesis of the novel – but for how they treated Jack.”

“So what you’ll see eventually, and I can’t talk too much per spoilers again, but what you’ll see is an honest attempt here to try to pull all that together,” Flanagan continued. “There are lots of easter eggs within the film, specific not only to Kubrick but to King as well, outside of the Shining and Doctor Sleep novels. So I’m hoping this will be exciting for people as nerdy as me, and we did go out of our way to try to make sure it would be.”


Will There Be Conspiracy Theories?

If you’re wondering whether Doctor Sleep will have anything to do with faking the moon landings – a conspiracy theory about Kubrick’s The Shining that took on a life of its own – the answer is very silly.

“Not to be overly spoilery,” Flanagan confessed, “but at least one major announcement by NASA in the past year is something that I have faked. And this is my confession for that. Let me know what you think it is!”


They Had an Adult-Sized Big Wheel On the Set 

When asked if anything eerie occurred on the set of Doctor Sleep, Mike Flanagan accidentally revealed the coolest-sounding part of the production.

“The crew and the cast were kind of too busy riding the Big Wheel around and giggling for it to be too ominous for us,” Flanagan explained, before his producing partner interjected.

“He’s not kidding,” Trevor Macy explained. “We had an adult-sized Big Wheel that you could ride around the hotel.”

“It was the coolest thing,” Flanagan admitted, laughing.


Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson lead the cast. McGregor stars as the adult version of Danny Torrance, while Ferguson plays Rose the Hat.

Carl Lumbly is playing Dick Hallorann with Alex Essoe as Wendy Torrance in the continuation of the storyline from The ShiningKyliegh Curran has been cast in the role of Abra Stone, a girl who has the gift of ‘The Shining’. Bruce Greenwood plays the role of Dr. John. Alyn Lind is Snakebite Andi, with Jocelin Donahue and Jacob Tremblay also starring.

In Doctor Sleep, still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace.  But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.

Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before—at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

Trevor Macy and Jon Berg produced the film, with Roy Lee, Scott Lumpkin, Akiva Goldsman and Kevin McCormick serving as executive producers. Flanagan adapted the novel. 

Doctor Sleep hits theaters on November 8, 2019.

William Bibbiani writes film criticism in Los Angeles, with bylines at The Wrap, Bloody Disgusting and IGN. He co-hosts three weekly podcasts: Critically Acclaimed (new movie reviews), The Two-Shot (double features of the best/worst movies ever made) and Canceled Too Soon (TV shows that lasted only one season or less). Member LAOFCS, former Movie Trivia Schmoedown World Champion, proud co-parent of two annoying cats.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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