Synopsis:

Stephen King’s 11/22/63 is a feature film edit of the Hulu miniseries with a new opening credits and a heavily streamlined story centering on Jake Epping’s traumatic events leading up to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Intentions:

I wanted to make this edit because it's a fantastic story, and I wanted to find out if it can be translated into a movie. I don't think many people saw this show, but it's pretty good. It’s quite different from the book, but the show mostly works because it just happens to have James Franco's best performance I've ever seen, in my opinion. Too bad not many people have seen it, from what I gather. The novel is also one of Stephen King's longest books- so turning an adapted show into a film already felt like a lose-lose situation. But it didn’t hurt to try. I’ve also been working on this since 2022- abandoned it, restarted it, abandoned it again, got a new machine, etc.- but alas, it can be done. So many challenges and I killed so many darlings along the way.

Change List:

1. Removed janitor Harry asking for promotion. I like the idea of Jake making the initiative and being rejected by the principal. Keeping this for the payoff at the end (which made me cry). 2. Made new opening credits. I liked the show’s original opening credits, and I thought about keeping it. But as I went on, I used it as a placeholder until I made my own montage version from footage of that time period. Used Bob Dylan’s "The Times They Are-Changin", which apparently was recorded just a month before the assassination. It reminded too much of the iconic Watchmen intro so I found a cover version which I thought fits the mood. It’s got this marching/presidential/ticking clock vibe which I thought was perfect. My new opening credits was inspired by Netflix's Dark opening credits- also a time-travel show! 3. Removed Jake meeting Sadie for the first time in Dealey Plaza, TX. In the novel, they meet for the first time later when Jake teaches at a high school. So for this edit, they meet-cute before a school dance as chaperones. I made it closer to the book. 4. Removed George de Mohrenschildt chase sequences (we’ll see him later). Along with this, removed scene fire scene that almost made Jake quit. 5. Removed gambling shenanigans. 6. Removed 99% of Yellow Card Man. He’s still around as a creep though. 7. Removed Price Family scenes for pacing. They’re not in the book, I don’t think. 8. Removed Billy and Jake going to a brothel. 9. Unfortunately, I removed many scenes with Mimi and Deke. I love them though. 10. Removed Sadie finding a Russian recording. It’s filler drama. 11. Removed the surgery fake-out for Sadie’s scar. These scenes are creepy and thrilling but it didn’t push the story forward. 12. Removed Jake’s amnesia subplot. I get that this is in the book, but I think it just prolongs the assassination. This is also a casualty from already deleting the gambling scenes. 13. Removed Billy's suicide. His story is so tragic in the show. What Jake did was despicable. I really wanted to keep this scene, but the ramifications weren’t there emotionally in the aftermath. The suicide also occurred during Jake’s amnesia. Since I’m removing the amnesia subplot, this was a casualty from that. I would’ve kept it if this scene if it haunted Jake more, but the show didn’t provide this content. 14. Nearing the end of the show, after preventing the assassination, Jake goes back to the future, finds out everything is fucked, and goes back to reset. When he’s resetting he finds closure with Sadie (who just happens to be in Lisbon too). This doesn’t happen in the book, from what I remember. I removed these scenes with Sadie in Lisbon. I liked the idea that Sadie is somewhere else in the country and Jake realizes he must let go of Sadie and is okay with not finding closure, but saves the world instead. 15. … only to discover that she’s still alive in the future, an older gal, later on in the story. I think the ending of the show nails the emotional ending of the novel and I wanted to keep this. What a lovely dance.

Additional Notes:

The most important element for me was to keep and nurture the Jake and Sadie relationship. That's the heart of the story, in my opinion. It's the heart of the book. Not the time-travel, not the supernatural stuff, not the scares, not even the assassination conspiracy. The relationship happens to be the best part of the show, played wonderfully by James Franco and Sarah Gadon. This element was my North Star I held on to as I made the changes. So many darlings and favorite moments murdered in favor for a stronger, tighter plot. But along the way, I made a few changes that made it closer to the book which I’m very happy about. I do understand keeping a few things. For example, I really wanted to remove the Billy character completely from this movie. In the novel, he's an old man who dies early and doesn't show up again. In the show, they made Billy this youngin' and a super prominent side-kick to Jake, the protagonist, throughout the ENTIRE series. I made peace with this and made sure that all the important things still work. Billy ended up being an interesting foil for the story as this edit went along, and I understand why they created him.

Other Sources:

Oliver Stone's JFK The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan (Fort Nowhere cover)