Danny Torrance is all grown up and looks a lot like Ewan McGregor. You may remember him as the terrified boy who spent one crazy winter at the Overlook Hotel when his father went crazy and tried to kill him and his mother in Stephen’s King’s novel, The Shining.
Published in 1977, turned into a movie directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1980 and adapted as a made-for-TV miniseries in 1997, The Shining not only told of the dangers of all work and no play but also what troubles can come for someone with the “gift” of the shining.
That stuff can mess a kid up.
King revisited The Shining story when he published a follow-up novel, Doctor Sleep in 2013 that takes place 30 years after the incidents at The Overlook.
Danny is all grown up now, working at a hospice, and finding that his shining gift can be comforting to those who are dying. However, the peace he finds will be short-lived as evidenced by the trailer for the movie adaptation released today by Warner Bros.
According to King, the adult Danny stumbles upon a group of people who live off the “steam” produced by children with the shining. He also knows he’ll need to risk his own life to save young Abra Stone, who believes herself to be magic.
While this all sounds weird, let’s remember McGregor was shown last year on the big screen talking to a bunch of stuffed animals in Christopher Robin.
Directed by Mike Flanagan (Tha Haunting of Hill House), Doctor Sleep stars McGregor and Kyliegh Curran as Abra. The film also stars Rebecca Ferguson, Jacob Tremblay, and Bruce Greenwood.
The new movie not only revisits the iconic Overlook Hotel but also shows Danny investigating the property mimicking the eerie tone and imagery found in Kubrick’s film.
Doctor Sleep comes to theaters on November 8, 2019.