Adapting Stephen King’s ‘Doctor Sleep‘ to the big screen is going to be a hard process and a writer has just been tapped to take it on.
While creating a movie that can work as a stand alone to King’s timeless classic by possibly working off of the novel and not the film will be difficult, Akiva Goldsman (‘A Beautiful Mind’,’Fringe’) is probably one of the perfect choices to pull it off. He has had a ton of experience bringing novels to the big screen with works such as ‘The Client’, ‘I, Robot’, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, ‘I Am Legend’, and more. Not only that, but he is one of the writers for the upcoming take on ‘The Dark Tower‘ so he knows how to handle King’s work. If the famed author was okay with him working on ‘Doctor Sleep’ as well, the two must have a great working relationship.
All of that being said, Goldsman is also the man behind ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Batman & Robin’ so he doesn’t have a perfect track record. However, his more serious work does seem to hint that we’re going to be in for something special.
While an official announcement hasn’t come from Goldsman or the studio, it was put up on The Tracking Board so this isn’t a rumor to be taken with a grain of salt.
The true test, though, will be how he handles this as a follow up to ‘The Shining‘. On the one hand, the film is thought of as one of Stanley Kubrick’s most famous works while on the other the adaptation is the only one that Stephen King truly despises with a passion. It makes me wonder if there will be any nods to the original film or if he’ll be playing purely off of King’s playbook which could potentially alienate moviegoers.
Do you think that ‘Doctor Sleep’ will be a closer follow up to the novel or cinematic take on ‘The Shining’? Who do you think would be best to handle directing the film? Share your thoughts below!
Novel Synopsis:
On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.
Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”
Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.
Source: Cinema Blend
