WEIRDLAND: Adaptations from book to screen: 11.22.63 (James Franco) and The Spectacular Now (Miles Teller)

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Adaptations from book to screen: 11.22.63 (James Franco) and The Spectacular Now (Miles Teller)

Hulu's miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's 11.22.63 released its final episode on Monday, a climax that saw James Franco's Jake make his attempt to prevent the assassination of President Kennedy, get a glimpse at how his actions changed the future and make a difficult decision involving Sadie (Sarah Gadon). While showrunner Bridget Carpenter and the series' production team had to make many changes from King's bestseller, the book's romantic, but profoundly bittersweet, ending was left intact, a rarity when it comes to King adaptations. Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com


11.22.63 - Ending Scene featuring James Franco as Jake Epping & Sarah Gadon as Sadie Dunhill.


Miles Teller: "Acting is such a high art, and coming from theater, I know how hard it is and respect the craft. I want to look back when it ends, and say I challenged myself. I wanted to be an actor you always remember, and those who are the great ones. That's just a personal journey that it's just you and your internal drive. The Spectacular Now was the best script I'd ever read. It had all those elements in it. He's a cool charming guy but with a lot of depth. In a lot shallower script, you wouldn't see the problems he's having, or the fact that he's searching for a father figure, and the broken home life that's revealed, and looking for guidance in life while just having that empty feeling. Sutter in the book is painted differently than how I was playing him. I was actually struggling to finish the entire book because I could see my image of Sutter getting a bit warped.

I tried to steer clear of it in the end. But it's such a well-written book. He says things like "I'm the Sutterman" and "Fabioloso" - I tried to work those things into the movie, but I couldn't say them with a straight face. Then a year later it came around again with James Ponsoldt, we met in a bar and had a couple drinks, and I got it I was excited, but nervous about being able to do it. It's for mature audiences even though it seems like a young adult story. It reminds you of your first love, that time in your life."

Miles Teller is magnetic. He's only been in a few movies - and a couple of those we will kindly skip over when doing future retrospectives about him - but in each of them he has been the beating heart of warmth, humanity and - most unusual these days - sheer naturalism. You don't even see Teller acting, he just is the character. Which means those who know him from Rabbit Hole or the surprisingly excellent Footloose remake will still be surprised by his performance as Sutter, the always buzzed, always cool boy at the heart of The Spectacular Now. It's a great role, and one that Teller invests with an extraordinary amount of nuance and truth. Source: www.esquire.com


Miles Teller "Tell Him" video. Roughly half an hour of pictures of Milles Teller, his co-stars (Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Anna Kendrick, Mackenzie Davis, Analeigh Tipton, etc.) and girlfriend Keleigh Sperry. Soundtrack: "Tell Him" by The Exciters, "Photograph" & "Smile" by Weezer, "Let It Bleed" by The Rolling Stones, "I Got Stung" & "Stuck on You" by Elvis Presley, "Crazy About My Baby" by Randy Newman, and "Ooh Wee Baby" by Jeff Barry.

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