The role Jack Nicholson refused to reprise under any circumstances: “He declined”
The decision to recreate one of the most beloved horror films of all time is not something that anyone chooses to do lightly, and when director Mike Flanagan announced his 2019 sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, audiences waited with bated breath to see his interpretation of the modern classic. There was much speculation about whether the sequel would directly reference the original, with people even wondering if Jack Nicholson himself would make an appearance. However, the actor had his own feelings about the project.
Doctor Sleep follows a grown-up Danny Torrence, who has struggled with addiction and his gift of ‘the shining’ as a result of the trauma he experienced as a child. However, after discovering that there are other people who also share the same gift, Torrence works with a young girl called Abra to confront the evil forces that threaten to hurt people with the gift.
There are many easter eggs and nods to the original film, with Flanagan also choosing to recreate infamous scenes such as the “Here’s Johnny!” scene, with Henry Thomas reprising the role of Jack Torrence, a huge undertaking that didn’t go unacknowledged on set. The film imagines what might’ve happened to Danny after leaving the Overlook Hotel, putting a supernatural spin on the story and using that to explore themes of grief and trauma, with Danny finding community through other people with the same gift and using that to process his complicated feelings towards his father.
When Flanagan was asked if Nicholson had ever been considered to make an appearance in the film, the director said, “There were initial things where I had been curious about whether or not he wanted any participation in the film whatsoever, in a cameo, any capacity, but he declined. I think he’s serious about his retirement. But he offered his support and wished us the best and was aware of everything we were doing. If he had anything bad to say about it, I never heard it.”
Given the cult status and iconicity of the film, it’s understandable that Nicholson would not want to return to the character, as there is no doubt the pressure would be unimaginable and not something many people would want to deal with during retirement.
And so, this challenge was then passed on to Henry Thomas, who rose to fame for his role as Elliott in ET The Extra-Terrestrial. But the pressure was not lost on the actor, with the director saying, “I let him think about it, and Henry went off and thought about it overnight, and called me back the next day. He said, ‘Look, you’re leading with your chin here to get hit for stepping into Kubrick’s shadow.’ He’s like, ‘Let me go with you and I’ll slip into Jack’s [shadow] and we’ll go down together”.
Thomas’ casting in this role was largely kept secret, with his name even being kept off call sheets so that it wouldn’t be leaked before the film’s release. Interestingly enough, Flanagan chose to directly recreate scenes from the film, a bold choice that only increased the level of media attention around the project. Who knows whether Nicholson saw the film, but it must’ve been a strange thing to see his own performance and legacy being recreated on the big screen once more.
