Recasting The Shining's Jack Torrance turned out to be Doctor Sleep's biggest mistake. Legendary horror author Stephen King has blessed lovers of the genre with many iconic novels, and the original Shining book is no exception. However, despite many commendable qualities, the cinematic sequel Doctor Sleep ultimately let itself down by doing a disservice to one of the property's most legendary figures.

The Shining, which remains one of King's most celebrated works, tells the tale of recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance taking care of the remote Overlook Hotel during the winter, along with his wife Wendy and son Danny. Unfortunately, this hotel is full of ghosts, and young Danny has psychic powers, making for a combination not conducive to Jack's sanity. The Shining was of course adapted to film by the equally legendary director Stanley Kubrick in 1980, and while it took a few years for The Shining to truly catch on, it's now seen as an all-time classic of horror by most. That's much to the chagrin of King, who never liked Kubrick's adaptation, feeling it lost the essence of King's work, especially in how it changed Jack from being a decent man with addiction problems into someone who seems like he's one second away from snapping even at the opening of the film.

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In 2013, King would publish a sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, which focused on an adult Danny Torrance and only somewhat involved the Overlook and its ghosts. Director Mike Flanagan came along in 2019 to adapt Doctor Sleep into a movie, trying his best to both honor King's book and make a sequel to Kubrick's classic film. The Doctor Sleep movie succeeded creatively in many ways, but in hindsight, recasting Jack Torrance for a pivotal scene in the third act just didn't work. Perhaps Flanagan underestimated how hard it would be to replace Jack Nicholson's iconic performance in the role, but his decision to recast Jack with Henry Thomas turned out to be a massive blunder due to the total lack of similarity between the performers.

Jack Torrance behind the bar in Doctor Sleep

That's not to say that Thomas isn't a talented actor. Outside of his signature childhood role of Elliot in E.T., Thomas has put in some quality work as an adult, including in Flanagan's Netflix show The Haunting of Hill House and his prior King movie Gerald's Game. The problem is that Thomas was given a thankless job in attempting to replace Nicholson's Jack Torrance, and wasn't given much help to accomplish the goal. While he sports a similar haircut and facial hair, Thomas looks and sounds nothing like Nicholson, and were it not for the context of the scene, many would likely not even realize he was supposed to be Jack Torrance.

This issue is made even worse by Doctor Sleep's director's cut, which while a better movie overall, adds another lengthy scene between Danny and Jack, this time with front-view close-ups that further highlight how little Thomas resembles Nicholson. Nicholson's facial expressions and way of speaking are some of the most distinctive in Hollywood history, and Thomas doesn't come close to emulating them. This hurts Doctor Sleep's final act, as the scenes where Danny reckons with his dead father are clearly meant to be emotionally resonant, especially for lovers of The Shining. Instead, they end up distracting due to the absence of Nicholson's signature acting style. If Flanagan absolutely had to include Jack in Doctor Sleep, using CGI to put Nicholson's young face on a sound-alike actor would've worked much better. As it stands, the scenes simply feel like Thomas doing Nicholson - who retired from acting in 2010 - cosplay.

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