How writing a sleep scene for a doctor changed Mike Flanagan’s life

Although it’s a key theme in his work, Mike Flanagan remembers how to write one doctor sleep Scene put him on the path to a sober life. The sequel to The glow marked Flanagan’s second foray into the world of Stephen King, his first being the acclaimed adaptation of Gerald’s game under the direction of Carla Gugino. With similarly positive reviews from critics, audiences and King alike, doctor sleep currently remains Flanagan’s final King-based work after the cessation of its spin-offs and revival Adaptation, but it left a huge impact on his life.

In response to a fan’s question about the film, Mike Flanagan took to Tumblr to provide a detailed reminder of his time doctor sleep. Reflecting on how King’s film adaptation changed his life by finally putting him on the path to sobriety, the writer/director recalled his efforts to incorporate this theme from both of King’s novels into the film and “lively‘ and recalls how writing a scene changed his life for the better. See what Flanagan shared below:

When he wrote DOCTOR SLEEP he was decades sober. The story of DOCTOR SLEEP is the story of recovery. That was something Ewan knew very well and why he was perfect for the role. He knew what the journey felt like. He wasn’t alone – there were a number of cast and crew members on this shoot who were sober. In fact, almost all the actors who played the main characters were sober. I was still drinking then, even though it had obviously become problematic in my life, I hadn’t taken any meaningful steps to change it. I had written about addiction for a decade. It was everywhere in my work, all the way back to ABSENTIA. I didn’t realize how much I wrote about myself and I still can’t believe it took me so long.

I vividly remember writing the scene between Dan and Jack in the bar. My wife then pointed out that she could see at the time that something was changing in me when it came to drinking. Something woke up and I processed the desperate need to sober up. This scene represents an internal conversation that is deeply personal to me. It’s still my favorite scene in the movie. I’ve been sober for over 4 years now. DOCTOR SLEEP helped me finally make that decision. I finished the shoot sober and returned to my life with a lot of uncertainty and insecurity. But with the unabashed support of my incredible wife and some amazing friends, my life really began to blossom. It was pretty clear right away that this was one of the best decisions I’ll ever make.

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Addiction has been a central Flanagan theme for years

As Flanagan notes, although interesting, the concept of addiction has been a key theme of his projects over the years doctor sleep put him on the path to sobriety. Shortly before the green light for the glowing Flanagan had been in the middle of filming the sequel The Haunting of Hill House for Netflix, which mirrored the struggle for sobriety through the lens of Oliver Jackson-Cohen’s Luke Crain, who grew up addicted to drugs in hopes of coming to terms with his horrifying childhood memories of life in the titular house. Though initially thought to be on a downward spiral in the show’s current timeline, by the end of the horror series, Luke and his siblings were celebrating his two-year sobriety, with the group seemingly coming to terms with their past at Hill House.

doctor sleep, itself, remains to this day one of Flanagan’s greatest explorations of addiction and sobriety. The opening chapters of the king glowing The sequel adaptation memorably saw a grown-up Danny Torrance, played by real-life teetotaler Ewan McGregor, who sought help to recover from his alcoholism after leaving a single mother and her baby for dead after a night of drinking and drugs. That doctor sleep The aforementioned scene, where Danny meets his father’s ghost at the Overlook Hotel, proved for many viewers to be a powerful reflection on the generational cycle of addiction, made all the more authentic thanks to the personal experiences of King, Flanagan and McGregor.

Flanagan’s quest for sobriety once again became a major theme with his Netflix miniseries midnight fair, a show he has often described as deeply personal, particularly in regards to Zach Gilford’s Riley, a venture capitalist who is serving four years in prison after killing a woman in a drunk-car crash. Also outside of an effective creative connection between Flanagan and doctor sleep, knowing how the film set him on the path to personal growth is sure to be a heartwarming story for fans of the filmmaker. The audience can revisit chilling doctor sleep Scene with the film now available to stream on HBO Max.

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