'The Shining' child actor Danny Lloyd says he was 'surprised' by 'Doctor Sleep' trailer

Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance in The Shining (Credit: Warner Bros)
Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance in The Shining (Credit: Warner Bros)

Danny Lloyd, the child actor who played Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's benchmark horror The Shining, has seen the trailer for the movie's sequel, Doctor Sleep.

And he's admitted that he was 'surprised' by what he saw.

Lloyd was seven-years-old when he was cast in the 1980 movie, as the son of Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance, the aspiring novelist who loses his mind at the isolated Overlook Hotel in the Rocky Mountains.

Read more: The Doctor Sleep trailer is here

Ewan McGregor is playing the grown-up Danny Torrance in the forthcoming Doctor Sleep, adapted from Stephen King's sequel novel of the same name, published in 2013.

“I was surprised,” Lloyd, who only made one other film, told The Hollywood Reporter.

“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.”

As for McGregor taking on the role of Danny, he added: “I am sure he has done a great job with it.”

Read more: Midsommar star got PTSD

Of shooting the original movie with Kubrick, which he wasn't allowed to watch until he was a teenager, he added: “He 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.”

Ewan McGregor as Danny Torrance in the Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural thriller “DOCTOR SLEEP,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
Ewan McGregor as Danny Torrance in the Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural thriller “DOCTOR SLEEP,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Lloyd, who is now a college professor in Kentucky, teaching biology, said that he spoke to his co-star Shelley Duvall, who played his mother in the movie, on the phone last year.

Duvall has previously spoken of her struggles with mental health, Lloyd saying: “I felt good talking to her. I am not really sure of the situation. She probably has good days and bad days, but she sounded, to me, exactly like she did 40 years ago. I think she has great family members looking after her, and I wish her the best.”

American actors Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd on the set of The Shining, based on the novel by Stephen King, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
American actors Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd on the set of The Shining, based on the novel by Stephen King, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)

He also added that he tries to keep his former stardom 'on the down low'.

“You get students of all different ages. The younger ones are not aware and that's how it should be. But every now and then, a student will say something,” he said.

“When it was on Netflix, my kids were watching it and making fun of my haircut.”

Doctor Sleep arrives in UK cinema on October 31.