Danny Lloyd was just five years old when he played Danny Torrance in director Stanley Kubrick's 1980 version of Stephen King's THE SHINING, but he wasn't allowed to watch the movie he was in, and even though his character dealt with frightening things, Kubrick shielded him from those things on set. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Lloyd said Kubrick
wanted me to act scared, but he didn't want me to be scared of anything. There were days when I wasn't allowed on set because of something they were shooting."
Of course, Lloyd did eventually watch THE SHINING when he was a teenager, years later his kids watched the movie and mocked his haircut in it, and when King published a sequel to THE SHINING in 2013 called DOCTOR SLEEP, Lloyd read the novel and enjoyed it.
Now DOCTOR SLEEP has gotten its own cinematic adaptation courtesy of writer/director Mike Flanagan, and The Hollywood Reporter contacted Lloyd – who hasn't done any acting since 1982 – to get his reaction to the film's recently released trailer. Lloyd said,
I was surprised. It looked really good. I was curious since there is a fine line they have to walk with Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick. It looks like they found a way to pay tribute to both. … I'd like to see it right when it comes out."
Asked what he thought of Ewan McGregor replacing him in the role of Danny Torrance, Lloyd replied,
I am sure he has done a great job with it."
A married father of four, Lloyd now teaches biology at a community college in Kentucky. He hasn't talked to Jack Nicholson since they were on the set of THE SHINING, but he has been in contact with his movie mom Shelley Duvall, who he spoke to as recently as last year.
DOCTOR SLEEP tells the following story:
Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.
Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before — at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.
McGregor is joined in the cast by Kyleigh Curran as Abra Stone, Carl Lumbly as Dick Halloran, Alex Essoe as Wendy Torrance, Bruce Greenwood as Danny's friend Dr. John Dalton, Rebecca Ferguson as cult leader Rose the Hat, Zahn McClarnon as her right hand man Crow Daddy, and Jacob Tremblay and Jocelin Donahue in unspecified roles.
DOCTOR SLEEP is coming to theatres on November 8th.