Oscar winner Chris Cooper is among seven actors cast in 11/22/63, Hulu’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2011 bestseller starring James Franco. Kevin Macdonald, who helmed The Last King Of Scotland and won an Oscar for his feature documentary One Day In September, will direct the first two of the nine-episode event series. The actors join Sarah Gadon, who was yesterday reported as aboard to play Sadie Dunhill, the luminous, sharp librarian in 1960s Jodie, Texas, who falls in love with Jake, unaware of his double life.
The story centers on Jake Epping (Franco), an unassuming divorced English teacher who stumbles upon a time portal that leads to September 1958 and goes on a quest to prevent the assassination of President Kennedy. But his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald, his falling in love and the past itself — which doesn’t want to be changed.
Cooper will play Al Templeton, he irascible owner of Al’s Diner, a mentor/friend to Jake. His appeal to save Kennedy sends Jake on his incredible mission. Also joining the cast: Daniel Webber as Oswald, one of the most discussed figures in American history and an enigma even to himself; Cherry Jones as Marguerite Oswald, Oswald’s mother who is as needy and difficult as her infamous son; George MacKay as Bill Turcotte, a young, guileless bartender from 1960s Kentucky who becomes Jake’s ally; Lucy Fry as Marina Oswald, Oswald’s Russian wife — a knockout and challenged to make her way in a foreign country with her unpredictable husband; and Leon Rippy as Harry Dunning, a kind, soft-spoken and damaged janitor at Jake’s school in 2015; his traumatic early life in the 1960s has a surprising impact on Jake.
11/22/63 is from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, author King, executive producer/writer Bridget Carpenter and Warner Bros. Television.
BuzzHub 