Chris Todd

Not too long ago I was driving between Austin and Houston, listening to various well-known actors read from Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes. King is a brilliant writer and his Dark Tower series, with its surreally vivid dreamscapes, has been a major influence on my own writing. But in this particular case I was listening to Rob Lowe read a short story, "Dolan's Cadillac"; it's a macabre little piece (King describes the protagonist as "Poe-esque") and as I listened I could see the entire story unfold in my head, just like a movie...but more than that, I could see how it would work as a movie, which is often something completely different.

So when the time came to start putting together a portfolio of screenplays, I decided to write at least one adaptation (my goal has always been to be a working screenwriter, and as a working screenwriter you spend a lot of time with someone else's material). William Goldman notes in his intro to the Misery screenplay that when adapting material for the screen, you better be passionate about the story because you'll read it over and over again until you're sick of it. I lost count of how many times I read "Dolan's Cadillac," but I never got sick of it.

It was a tricky story to adapt. Like a lot of King's work, much of the dialog was internal, and the story begins somewhere around what would traditionally be the second act of a movie. Not to mention that after having seen so many poor adaptations of King's work, I didn't want to repeat the same mistakes. Eventually I ended up structuring the script as an anti-Grail Quest, where the protagonist's goal is not something holy, but quite the opposite, and thwarting him on his path to revenge isn't a dragon, but the promise of the normal life he could have if only he'd let it happen. In the end I had to invent quite a bit of material, but I hope and believe that the result remains faithful to the spirit and, wherever possible, the text of the original. If it doesn't work, the fault is certainly mine.

Of course, it should be pointed out that I don't own the underlying rights -- the script was originally intended merely to be a writing sample -- and as happens on occasion, someone else obtained the rights to the story shortly after I finished my adaptation. Kevin Bacon and Sylvester Stallone were both rumored to be attached, and by then I just didn't see any reason to send around my version, writing sample or not. The production eventually collapsed, though, and from what I understand the rights have since reverted back to King, so at this point I figure that I might as well post my script for anyone who'd care to read it.

I firmly believe that screenplays are an art form in their own right, and can be enjoyed apart from any movie that might be made from them. And I have no doubt that mine will be substantially different from any eventual movie that is made (after all, I wrote Dolan with Richard Harris in mind), so think of this as an exercise in what might have been. In any case I encourage everyone to read the original short story, a finely honed watch that keeps a nasty bit of time.

The script is available in PDF format, using a rough approximation of screenplay format that I work with when composing drafts, and in Final Draft format (a free Final Draft viewer is available from their web site). My thanks to Harry Jarvis, Sean Murphy, Sheldon Pacotti, Ryan Todd, Wade Walker, and everyone else who contributed their comments.

Content

• Dolan's Cadillac Script [PDF]
• Dolan's Cadillac Script [FDR]