Second Coming the novel: Extending the Entertainment

“A story like no other. A flat-out original idea, brilliantly imagined.”

Come now, since when was film promotion ever modest?

Those of you who have read the novel, please note that the screenplay, while it follows the outline of the novel, is a different story. In the novel, Paul refuses the Call. In the script, he accepts it. This changes the context of the original story.

Extra material, not in the novel but included in Paul’s answers to the abbot’s questions, is integrated into the screenplay. As a result, dialogue for many scenes was extensively rewritten.

There were several reasons for the title change to East of Suez. On page 65, Paul references the Egyptian town at the southern end of the Suez Canal as an arbitrary dividing line between East and West with their very different views of reality. The title also references Paul’s journey from conventional reality to what his friend Ben Sachs calls post reality. Lastly, the climax of the story takes place in the West Bank which is literally east of Suez.

Coming to a multiplex near you? As the saying goes, “One never knows, do one?” While you wait—and, honestly, that could be like waiting for Godot—you can read the screenplay.

read the complete screenplay online

Use “make a comment” link below  to contact Jim Wills about the screenplay