Jonathan Demme to Bring Stephen King's '11/22/63' to The Big Screen

Many of Stephen King's novels have made the big screen jump.  Yesterday Warner Bros. and director David Yates were negotiating a deal for The Stand movies.  Now director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) plans to write, direct and produce the movie adaptation of King's upcoming JFK assassination centered sci-fi novel "11/22/63", Variety reported earlier.

King's one thousand page story focuses on a high school English teacher, Jake Epping, who discovers a time portal to the year 1958 in the store room of his friend's (Al) local diner.  Al and Jake devise a plan to send Jake back in time to try and thwart the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.   

This may mark the first time a book is already being optioned into a movie before it has even hit the open market (November 2011).  It's definitely my first time seeing this happen.

Demme will produce the film with Ilona Herzberg, who previously worked with Demme on his most recent film Rachel Getting Married in 2008.  King will exec produce 11/22/63 if the adaptation makes it.  

So now the count is 3, as in 3 Stephen King novels are trying to be developed for the big screen transition: The Dark Tower, The Stand, 11/22/63.