Mike Flanagan took time off from filming the Stephen King adaptation Doctor Sleep to talk to Bloody Disgusting about his Netflix series “The Haunting of Hill House”. Naturally, we had to poke him for insights into Doctor Sleep as well.

The book is King’s follow-up to his seminal novel “The Shining”, with a grown-up Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) as the lead. Danny Lloyd, who played Danny as a child in Stanley Kubrick’s movie The Shining, only acted once more in a TV movie. Flanagan says the production of Doctor Sleep did get in touch with Lloyd, but that’s all he’d reveal to us…

“It’s interesting, he’s a teacher, lives in the midwest,” Flanagan told us in a phone interview. “We definitely spoke to him. I don’t want to spoil anything but yeah, we absolutely got in touch.”

Flanagan also confirmed to us that his film will acknowledge Kubrick’s The Shining in some way, even if it’s an adaptation of King’s sequel rather than a sequel to Kubrick’s movie.

“Yeah, I think you do,” Flanagan said. “I think you do have to acknowledge that. There is no version of the world where I am trying not to acknowledge one of the greatest films ever made. There’s no upside in shying away from that reality.”

“At the same time, this is not The Shining,” Flanagan added.

“It’s its own story and in a very specific way. If you’ve read the book, you know exactly why it’s so different but it’s quite a tightrope that we’re walking I think. I’m having a great time doing it. I’m just going to get the movie out and then turn off the internet for two weeks and see how it all goes.”

We’ll bring you more with Mike Flanagan on “The Haunting of Hill House,” which premieres on Netflix on October 12.