Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan shared that author Stephen King influenced his choice to cut back on the film's most brutal scene. Doctor Sleep is a film based on the widely successful sequel to The Shining that delves into the life of main character Danny Torrance - an important standout as sequels are less common feats for prolific writer King. Filmmaker Flanagan has made his mark in the horror genre with Gerald's Game, The Haunting of Hill House, and Hush, which have all received significant praise. Announced this May, his next project is another King adaptation titled Revival.
King has openly expressed his distaste for Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, noting the differences between the novel and the film and other elements such as misogyny and abuse that seem to have not aged well. However, Flanagan received a nod from King for his take on Gerald's Game, which includes awesome performances from Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. Doctor Sleep takes a deep look at Danny Torrance, played by Ewan McGregor, as an adult while introducing a new character with psychic abilities, Abra Stone, who is played by Kyleigh Curran. Even though King lauded Flanagan's adaptation of his sequel novel, it makes sense why the director initially sought out King's advice for the cut.
In an episode of Kingcast, Flanagan disclosed why King told him to scale back on the brutal killing scene of Baseball Boy played by Jacob Tremblay. A young star, Room's Tremblay makes a cameo appearance as Baseball Boy, who gets killed by The True Knot. In essence, The True Knot are cannibals that feed on "steam" from individuals who have the Shine. In the scene, Baseball Boy is graphically tortured and killed by The True Knot who seize his Shine. Flanagan explained King's take on the scene:
It was one of the only times he leaned over to me during the movie was when [Jacob] Tremblay got killed. He leaned over and he was like, 'That’s a little brutal isn’t it?' I was like, ‘Sh-t I gotta go back, I gotta go back and edit this. I gotta pull stuff out.' And we did, we changed it. We backed off. … I think when he saw it, we cut to Jacob two additional times. So there were two more stabs basically. And we took those out.
According to Flanagan, King did not have any other major suggestions for the film. Flanagan continued: "[King] said to me after as we talked about that, that was his only note for the movie really was, ‘That one’s gonna hurt… You need that, you’re right, but I would have a hard time showing this to my wife so you should think about pulling it back.’ And he was right." While the scene is difficult to watch even for the most avid horror moviegoers, King is indeed correct about how crucial the brutal scene is for the film's story.
Even though it runs at three hours, the director's cut of Doctor Sleep serves the story well with additional scenes that wonderfully contribute to Danny and Abra's character arcs and backstories. The result is a well-rounded cinematic interpretation of the novel. Currently, the director's cut is available on HBO, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, to name a few platforms. So far, Flanagan has impressed King with his skillful adaptations that not only stay true to the art of cinema, but also to the heart of the author's original stories. With Revival on the horizon, and foreseeable collaborations between King and Flanagan, the adaptations might just only get better.
Source: The Kingcast Podcast Episode 9