Stephen King's 11/22/63, my 2 hr, 32 min. feature film edit of the limited series

[Gibichung]

Currently finishing up a feature film version of the Stephen King show, 11/22/63. This is about a man who goes back in time to stop the assassination of JFK. It's a supernatural thriller. Final touches this week, then I need some time to figure out how to manage quality and sharing it.

I don't think many people saw this show, but it's pretty good. 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. Too bad not many people have seen it, from what I gather. I'm curious if anyone here have seen it?

Original runtime: 8 episodes (total: 7 hours, 18 min)
Fan-edit runtime: 2 hours, 32 min

Poster: Still in-work! Possibly a trailer too. I've chosen a typeface/made a quick banner already for it, below, in-family with my Stephen King's Storm of the Century movie edit.

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I've been working on this as far back as 2022, with so many false starts. I've abandoned it, restarted it, abandoned it again, got a new machine- just life stuff. And the way the show works (again had significant changes from the source material) meant that characters introduced are intertwined with subplots that really didn't go anywhere. The novel is also one of Stephen King's longest books- turning this into a film was already a lose-lose situation. But alas, it can be done.

This had so many challenges. I killed so many plotlines and killed so many darlings. It also gave me an opportunity to make it closer to the book. Unfortunately, I also wanted to remove the Billy character completely (because he's basically a new character created for the show. 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. Otherwise, Jake would be lonely for a while, which works in a book, but boring in a show- anyways...

My most important element for me was 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. This relationship also happens to be the best part of the show. So that was my North Star I held on to for all these years trying to turn this into a movie.

More information later on this later (the cut list is extensive), but I'm so happy I'm finally nearing the finish line on this. The time it took away from it helped hone in what needed to stay and sadly what needed to go.

I'm so happy, I'm gonna cry lol

 

[futon88]

I leant out my copy of the book before finishing it, so I've been afraid to watch the adaptation...Suppose I should get the book back.

 

[Gibichung]

I leant out my copy of the book before finishing it, so I've been afraid to watch the adaptation...Suppose I should get the book back.

The show's good! Again, just some weird changes, some minor and some major. Like for example, there's no Derry in the show at all. It was cool to have Bev and small cameos here and there in the book since it was early in the story. But sadly, no Derry here. Also, a big part of the book is Jake just being a high school teacher in the 60's Texas- not a lot of that in the show, unfortunately so just a heads up.

The book is better obviously, but I do recommend that show. I think they nailed the essence of the ending.

 

[Gibichung]

Quick update:

TLDR: Stephen King’s 11/22/63 is a feature film edit of the Hulu miniseries with 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. Please let me know if you're interested!

Main changes summary (spoilers ahead):

• 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).
• Made new opening credits. I liked the show’s original opening credits, 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.
• 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.
• Removed George de Mohrenschildt chase sequences (we’ll see him later)
• Removed gambling shenanigans.
• Removed 99% of Yellow Card Man. He’s still around as a creep though.
• Removed Price family scenes for pacing. They’re not in the book, I don’t think.
• Removed Billy and Jake going to a brothel.
• Unfortunately, I removed many scenes with Mimi and Deke. I love them though.
• Removed Sadie finding a Russian recording. It’s filler drama, IMO.
• Removed the surgery fake-out for Sadie’s scar. These scenes are creepy and thrilling but it didn’t serve pushing the story forward.
• 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.
• Removed Billy 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 show. 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.
• 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 Lisbon too). This doesn’t happen in the book, from what I remember. So 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.
• … 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.

Original show's opening credits:

Fanedit's film opening credits:

Inspired by Dark, which is also a great time-travel show. It gets convoluted, but really good. I also recommend that.

I'll submit this soon. I'm so happy to finally be sharing this fanedit. Please message me anytime!

 

[Gibichung]

Poster:
Just a simple, vector style poster with double exposure inside. I’m not a graphic designer so please be kind lol That’s Lee Harvey Oswald played brilliantly by Daniel Webber. Three stripes from the flag bleeds to the foreground for the three shots Oswald fired at JFK.

Also made an alternative version, with some Soviet yellow:

 

[Last Impressions]

This was a great show, i would definitely like to give this a watch in the future.

 

[Gibichung]

This was a great show, i would definitely like to give this a watch in the future.

I agree! Thanks for your interest!!

 

[asterixsmeagol]

I know I watched this when it first came out, and I remember the general premise but I don't remember exactly how I felt about it. I think maybe generally positive but didn't love the ending?

 

[Gibichung]

I know I watched this when it first came out, and I remember the general premise but I don't remember exactly how I felt about it. I think maybe generally positive but didn't love the ending?

Yeah, for me it was the kind of the opposite. It kind of played well and so-so. I felt it started to depend on filler material and subplots as the show went through, a little bogged down with the amnesia subplot, etc.

But I thought the ending scenes were fantastic. Very true to the feeling of the books, in my opinion. That's just me though