Stephen King’s sequel to the 1977 novel The Shining, titled Doctor Sleep, arrives in stores on Tuesday.  In a chat with BBC News, King admitted that he’s afraid 95% of the reviews for Doctor Sleep will be comparisons between the two novels.  Even more interesting is his admission that he’s still not a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining adaptation.

This is what King had to say: “[It’s] cold, I’m not a cold guy, I think one of the things people relate to in my books is this warmth, there’s a reaching out and saying to the reader, ‘I want you to be a part of this.’ With Kubrick’s The Shining I felt that it was very cold, very ‘We’re looking at these people, but they’re like ants in an anthill, aren’t they doing interesting things, these little insects.’

Adding to his argument he mentions Jack Nicholson’s portrayal: “Jack Torrance in the movie, seems crazy from the jump, Jack Nicholson, I’d seen all his biker pictures in the ’50s and ’60s and I thought, he’s just channeling The Wild Angels here.”  He also takes offense at Kubrick’s portrayal of Wendy: “Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film, she’s basically just there to scream and be stupid and that’s not the woman that I wrote about.”

Or maybe Stephen King was just pissed that Stanley Kubrick kept on calling him up in the middle of the night just to ask him in he believed in God?

Courtesy of BBC News