Jonathan Demme Secures Rights to Stephen King’s Latest Chiller, ’11/22/63′

It’s shaping up to be a good week for horror author Stephen King. On Wednesday night, news broke that David Yates and Steve Kloves wanted to tackle a multi-film big screen adaptation of his novel The Stand. That was exciting, but now we’ve got even more good news for fright fans: the author’s upcoming novel, 11/22/63, has already been optioned.

Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme (who brought us The Silence of the Lambs) has secured the rights to King’s newest tale – which is due to debut in stores this November. Demme will write the screenplay and direct the film, should he be able to procure financing and studio backing. King will executive produce if a deal falls into place.

King’s latest is another 1,000-plus page tome, this one about a school teacher who finds a portal that warps him back to 1963 — where he tries to stop the JFK assassination. While in the past, he encounters VIPs like Elvis and the President, but more importantly, meets a high school librarian who becomes the love of his life. The tale doesn’t sound like the straight horror offerings King has become so famous for, but we suspect there’s more to the tale than the blurb discloses.

Let’s cross our fingers and hope both 11/22/63 and The Stand make it through development and to a theater screen. After the disappointment of watching Ron Howard’s The Dark Tower project fall apart at Universal, some good Stephen King news is certainly in order. 

[via THR]