Ewan McGregor says that the upcoming film adaptation of Doctor Sleep is faithful to Stephen King's book. Doctor Sleep stands as the sequel to King's The Shining and focuses on an adult version of Danny Torrence which McGregor is set to play.
Doctor Sleep is aimed for a January 2020 release date which will be 40 years since Stanley Kubrick adapted The Shining with Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. While the first film focused on Jack Torrance slipping into insanity after becoming the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Doctor Sleep focuses on Danny Torrance, who is now dealing with anger and alcoholism. Danny soon meets a young girl who has the strongest form of shining Danny has ever seen and he must now save her from an evil called "The True Knot". While King has made it quite apparent how much he dislikes Kubrick's The Shining, he may appreciate director Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep since it will remain much more faithful to the book.
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In a recent interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert promoting his new film Christopher Robin, McGregor discussed how he had taken some time off from acting but was set to return to work in September when he would be filming Doctor Sleep. McGregor mentioned the movie would be close to the source material, saying, "Well, it's very faithful to the book, the script. So, I mean if you've read the novel, that's the story we're going to tell." While he doesn't give any plot details away besides the fact that Danny still has psychic powers, Colbert and McGregor joked that viewers could just read the book to find out what will happen in Doctor Sleep.
Besides McGregor, the cast for Doctor Sleep seems to be filling out. Alex Essoe and Carl Lumbly will both have roles in the film, playing Wendy Torrance and Dick Halloran, respectively. Zahn McClarnon will also have the role of Crow Daddy and Rebecca Ferguson was recently cast as Rose the Hat. Since Essoe and Lumby appear to be around the same age as Duvall and Scatman Crothers were when they filmed The Shining, Doctor Sleep may be showing flashbacks to Torrance's time at the Overlook Hotel.
Even though McGregor is taking a break from acting in between Christopher Robin and Doctor Sleep, he had been staying busy with various projects, starring in T2: Trainspotting, Beauty and the Beast, and Fargo in 2017. McGregor's doesn't seem to want to be slowing down either, at least not when it comes to certain projects, as he's still up for a potential Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff, and of course, since Doctor Sleep will hit theaters in 2020.
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Source: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
