On the Road (Walter Salles, 2012)

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ianungstad · #1 Post by **ianungstad** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:55 pm

mk2 just announced a release date of May 23 in France for On the Road. This just also happens to be week of the Cannes film festival. Hardly a coincidence. I've been looking forward to this movie, hope it's good!

#2 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:15 am

The first trailer for the long-in-production Kerouac adaptation has finally landed. I've always felt it was unadaptable, but I like the vibe I get from the trailer. I thought they were determined to shoot this in black and white; guess that didn't work out. Film is widely expected to make its debut at Cannes, though it still doesn't have a U.S. distributor.

#3 Post by **mfunk9786** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:23 am

Hopefully Kristen Stewart isn't saddled with any tasks as difficult as using condiments in this one:

IMDB's listing for [b]Twilight[/b] wrote:In the scene when Bella is eating with her father, she receives her veggie burger. She shakes the [squeeze bottle of] ketchup continuously, but nothing comes out. Then, she places the ketchup back on the table as if content with the amount of ketchup on her burger.

ianungstad · #4 Post by **ianungstad** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:34 am

I quite like the trailer. I'm a little surprised that the film has had a hard time finding distribution. They've been screening footage to buyers since last year's Cannes film market. There is some rumblings online that the footage screened for buyers was fairly explicit and that the film would likely get an NC 17 rating, but not from any reliable source. The trailer certainly doesn't suggest anything overly controversial. Really looking forward to this!

#5 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:48 am

Was never a fan of the novel (in fact I think it's pretty bad), but I was interested by the trailer, especially the way it emphasized the emotional damage wrought by the pair of short-sighted narcissists. If the movie finds a way to make its main characters more likeable and less emotionally stunted, and balances the celebratory aspects of the story with the destructive, toxic elements that are mostly glossed over in the book, it could be a very good period piece.

#6 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:00 am

Michael Polish's Big Sur will be the Kerouac film to watch, even if it does get Capote'd by this

HerrSchreck · #7 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:13 pm

Wow thats the first i've hears of this project ... the last that I'd heard of anyone venturing to turn the source novel into a movie, was back around , sheesh .. Gotta b close to 20 yrs ago, w hen I was an actor looking for work, and went to a huge open casting call put out by F F Coppola, who also had Alan Ginsberg with him at the table.

I have no clue how deep into pre production he actually was, but Coppola was certainly set to direct this title at that time, though the project obviously fell apart and was ultimately forgotten by him.

ROAD is far from my favorite beatnik title, and is in a certain sense a touch overrated. . . I far prefer the closely observed pieces of nostalgic cataloguing in the sort-of pre version of ROAD, the far more adventurous VISIONS OF CODY. There is a certain sadhappy exuberance that drives ROAD that either speaks to the reader or it doesn't.

Zinoviev · #8 Post by **Zinoviev** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:46 pm

Personally, I think that the entire Beat generation is more interesting to read about than to read. But Viggo Mortensen as William S. Burroughs might actually be an inspired choice.

karmajuice · #9 Post by **karmajuice** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:37 pm

I like On the Road, and I think its reputation tends to do it a disservice. Everyone always emphasizes the wild and carefree attitude, the counter-cultural qualities, and all of that, and that seems beside the point. That's the milieu they're living in, and it's a worthwhile document in that sense, sure, but ultimately it's a character study, one of dislocation, aimlessness, even impotence, and some of their allegedly revolutionary behavior in the book is clearly symptomatic of that condition.

Fortunately, this adaptation (based on the trailer) seems like it might understand that. It's got the typical "The book that defined a generation" rhetoric, but honestly, this looks kinda promising. I wouldn't say I'm excited, but I expected less, so this is nice.

#10 Post by **Jeff** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:39 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:Wow thats the first i've hears of this project ... the last that I'd heard of anyone venturing to turn the source novel into a movie, was back around , sheesh .. Gotta b close to 20 yrs ago, w hen I was an actor looking for work, and went to a huge open casting call put out by F F Coppola, who also had Alan Ginsberg with him at the table.

I have no clue how deep into pre production he actually was, but Coppola was certainly set to direct this title at that time, though the project obviously fell apart and was ultimately forgotten by him.

Coppola still owns the rights. The film is a co-production between his American Zoetrope and Mk2. He's been trying to make the film for over 30 years, and has been through many screenwriters. Interesting to read about all the previous attempts to make the film.

Even this version has been years in the making. It was supposed to come out in 2009. Coppola finally gave up on making it himself and hired Jose Rivera and Walter Salles after seeing the Motorcycle Diaries, which he thought captured the right "feel" for On the Road. Before filming, Salles retraced Kerouac's journey and made a complete (as yet unreleased) documentary about the experience. After shooting, he spent well over a year editing it. After such a long and thorough process, I'm really curious to see what they've come up with, and how Coppola feels about the finished product after spending such a long time with the material.

karmajuice wrote:Everyone always emphasizes the wild and carefree attitude, the counter-cultural qualities, and all of that, and that seems beside the point. That's the milieu they're living in, and it's a worthwhile document in that sense, sure, but ultimately it's a character study, one of dislocation, aimlessness, even impotence, and some of their allegedly revolutionary behavior in the book is clearly symptomatic of that condition.

Fortunately, this adaptation (based on the trailer) seems like it might understand that...

I think it might. From the article I linked above:

Now 84, the real-life [Carolyn] Cassady recently stated she was happy with the choice of Salles to direct Kerouac's work, not least because he looks set to offer a more three-dimensional portrait of Kerouac's world. "Everyone just wants Jack's wild side, his hedonistic side," she says. "He was so much more than that. His last five years, he was miserable. I argue with Francis about it. I say everybody's going to the movie anyway, no matter what you do, so do it right."

Roger Ryan · #11 Post by **Roger Ryan** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:48 pm

This does look promising. The novel ON THE ROAD has been so influential over the past fifty years that plenty of films have already been made trying to capture its ethos. Notably efforts from the late 60s / early 70s like EASY RIDER, FIVE EASY PIECES and TWO-LANE BLACKTOP succeeded in this regard. Even something like FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS owes something to Kerouac. This new trailer showcases the most dynamic material from the novel (Kerouac's descriptions of the jazz clubs is what stays with me), but the film is going to have to find a way to reign in those characters and give them enough substance to work in a two-hour story.

#12 Post by **Matt** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:02 pm

Zinoviev wrote:Personally, I think that the entire Beat generation is more interesting to read about than to read. But Viggo Mortensen as William S. Burroughs might actually be an inspired choice.

I'm slightly more excited about the Steve Buscemi/Oren Moverman adaptation of Burroughs' Queer. Though maybe casting Guy Pearce as Burroughs' alter ego "Lee" is a bit on the nose. Maybe someone with several hundred million dollars to burn with someday produce an adaptation of Burroughs' Cities of the Red Night. That would be something to see.

knives · #13 Post by **knives** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:07 pm

I hadn't heard of the Burroughs adaptation. Now that is something to get excited about, though I don't know if Pearce could top Weller in the role.

HerrSchreck · #14 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:52 pm

Thanks for the heads up on all that history, Jeff... I didn't watch the trailer or read up on the project before commenting... I just thought that sharing my little experience meeting Coppola and Ginsberg (again) might have been interesting, but I'm glad , and not really surprised that FFC hung in there over the decades to finally get this thing out in a fashion that maintains fidelity to the source. Any others here read CODY? Great stuff.. Some of the most closely observed reportage of things like fading subway restroom graffiti, grey old women sitting aimlessly in nickel luncheonettes, all manner of warm sadnesses marking the passing of anonymous time.

I'm always leery of Burroughs adaptation s... I'm NOT a fan of the Cronenberg, no matter how I try to separate the film from the book and take it on its own terms. Some things are just so All On Their Own in terms of intelligence and originality that adaptations only serve to highlight the gap between the source author and subsequent adaptor... They wind up simply being the feeble tributes of worshipping disciples.

Me love WSB. . On another planet than Gins & Ker....

Anhedionisiac · #15 Post by **Anhedionisiac** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 6:36 pm

Matt wrote:Maybe someone with several hundred million dollars to burn with someday produce an adaptation of Burroughs' Cities of the Red Night. That would be something to see.

Hear, hear. Who knows? Pirates are all the rage nowadays and there are some pirates in it. Allright, they may be gay pirates but... Oh, who am I kidding? It'll never happen.

#16 Post by **Jeff** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:10 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:I just thought that sharing my little experience meeting Coppola and Ginsberg (again) might have been interesting, but I'm glad , and not really surprised that FFC hung in there over the decades to finally get this thing out in a fashion that maintains fidelity to the source.

Must have been an amazing experience. From the article I linked, it sounds like that would have been around '95, when FFC was going to do it himself in black & white 16mm. That was before he flirted with the idea of Ethan Hawke & Brad Pitt as Sal and Dean, and later... God help us, Billy Crudup and Colin Farrel in a Joel Schumacher helmed pic. HerrSchreck as Dean Moriarty in a black and white Coppola film would have def been the best option!

HerrSchreck · #17 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:28 pm

Lol!! Well I cam definitely tell you its a day I won't forget anytime soon. At the time I was an agented actor who only really went to screen tests at the formal invite of a casting director viz my agent, and rarely went to open cattle calls, but who could resist ROAD, directed by Coppola, supervised by Ginsberg, during those years in the mid 90's-- your guess of 95 sounds about right-- when the FFC name hadn't lost any of its lustre vis the strings of weak films we've since been subject to.

Anyone who went that day, and there sure were a lot of them, will remember that first of all there was a blazing snow storm raging that day, which we all had to stand out under for quite a long while as the line wound all the way out of the rented theater and around the block. The line then snaked across the inner circumference of the auditorium till your time came to meet Coppola and Ginsberg and drop your headshot and resume at the table with them. He was obviously looking for unknowns.

After which I'm sure nobody heard anything. Total blackout about the project... The web was just a bunch of Prodigy-type bulletin boards back then, nothing like today. Otherwise you rely on things like trade newspapers , the ross reports, word of mouth and television-radio here and there..

#18 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:46 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:Me love WSB. . On another planet than Gins & Ker....

While I don't love Burroughs (not totally sure what I think of him, actually; I go back-and-forth), he is definitely the superior writer of the three by a good measure. He's also the most interesting.

I love the Cronenberg movie, tho'. For me, whether or not it captures Burroughs or the book accurately is a non-issue since the movie is actually the melding of two separate voices/artists into a new organism. The movie itself enacts the theme that both artists have most in common, the destruction of the barriers between distinct things so that the things combine and morph into a new thing with a new purpose. It's also one of those rare movies where symbolism and intertextuality almost totally replace narrative. It's not about the book Naked Lunch so much as about how a book like Naked Lunch gets written. A symbolic representation of the process of becoming an artist as seen through the biography and the novels of William Burroughs and the films of David Cronenberg.

HerrSchreck · #19 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:31 am

See, thats just the thing: so much of NAKED LUNCH the book IS about the creation of NAKED LUNCH the book. To me this isn't something I can separate out, allowing it to speak to me uniquely from the new terrain of the film. Burroughs' experience emotionally physically and creatively are for me central to the breakthrough of WSB's art at this point in his life. I really do try to take the film on its own separate terms but it just doesn't work for me no matter how I try ( I did see it in the cinema twice, and I do own the criterion). I try and try, wanting to each time. .

I'm probably not your average.case, though. Few books hit me like NL... I had no idea such a thing was possible; it completely rearranged my brain. It easily hit me the hardest and the deepest of all the 20th century works I've read. Only Joyce's ULYSSES (without which, especially the dazzling ang hilarious CIRCE ep , LUNCH wouldnt exist... Or at least not in the form that we know it now) comes close for me.

ianungstad · #20 Post by **ianungstad** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:57 am

Variety editor Josh Dickey shared some reactions from buyers to "On the Road" on twitter:

Reactions from buyers have been really mixed, though. Won't be for everyone. Very long, very slow, very ... "arty." Not a lot of narrative or structure. Good performances, beautifully shot. Lots of sex.

Reactions from buyers doesn't mean much, as they are looking at the film from a financial perspective.

#21 Post by **Jeff** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:06 am

ianungstad wrote:Very long, very slow, very ... "arty." Not a lot of narrative or structure. Good performances, beautifully shot. Lots of sex.

Sounds pretty fantastic to me!

#22 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:46 am

Jeff wrote:Sounds pretty fantastic to me!

Could hardly sell this film better, especially to this forum!

HerrSchreck wrote:See, thats just the thing: so much of NAKED LUNCH the book IS about the creation of NAKED LUNCH the book. To me this isn't something I can separate out, allowing it to speak to me uniquely from the new terrain of the film. Burroughs' experience emotionally physically and creatively are for me central to the breakthrough of WSB's art at this point in his life. I really do try to take the film on its own separate terms but it just doesn't work for me no matter how I try ( I did see it in the cinema twice, and I do own the criterion). I try and try, wanting to each time. .

I'm probably not your average.case, though. Few books hit me like NL... I had no idea such a thing was possible; it completely rearranged my brain. It easily hit me the hardest and the deepest of all the 20th century works I've read. Only Joyce's ULYSSES (without which, especially the dazzling ang hilarious CIRCE ep , LUNCH wouldnt exist... Or at least not in the form that we know it now) comes close for me.

Part of the problem is that the movie is as much about Cronenberg as it is Burroughs. The two become pretty intertwined, to the point where you really can't understand the movie unless you're very familiar with Cronenberg's filmography (Burroughs' output and life, too). I actually think that, when it comes to loving the movie, loving Cronenberg is more of a prerequisite than loving Burroughs. The movie is very concerned with Cronenberg's (artistic) relationship with Burroughs, so by necessity it cannot be about your or anyone else's relationship to him. Hence why you don't respond to it, or why it struck you as mere discipleship (which I don't think it is, but you've acutely picked up on the way Burroughs is being approached very much through Cronenberg). At its deepest level, the movie is as much about Cronenberg's origins as it is Burrough's.

These are all pretty good reasons for considering it a great movie, and all pretty good reasons for why you in particular wouldn't like it.

HerrSchreck · #23 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:21 am

That makes a lot of sense, as Cronenberg is, despite seeing a few of his films In the cinema, almost an unknown to me in terms of the place that his art comes from, and who he is quite simply as a human being (outside of what I gleaned from the extras on the CC LUNCH) .. The only Cronenberg I own believe it or not is NL, and the last I saw in the cinema was (not by any deliberate.avoidance mind you, as I genuinely like his work) SPIDER with Fiennes.

Who knows, you may have given me a new angle into the film.. There are few films that I almost struggle to like like I do the Cronenberg NL. I still revisit it pretty regularly, so I haven't given up on it, not by a long shot. Theres a lot to savor in the film, beyond all question of a doubt.

colinr0380 · #24 Post by **colinr0380** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:27 pm

I definitely agree on the adaptation of Naked Lunch being as much Cronenberg as Burroughs - one of my favourite sequences of the film is the one where Bill Lee is visited in 'Tangiers' by the Ginsberg and Kerouac surrogates and they briefly look into his bag containing the squashed bug typewriter which he needs to fix to be able to write again, and instead see all of the drug paraphenalia. This is perhaps too on the nose if we think of needing to be drugged out to write, but I think it has quite beautiful parallels with Cronenberg's previous film Dead Ringers where one of the identical twin brothers has drug problems, with the other eventually deciding that he will have to take drugs himself in order to 'sync' himself back up with his errant brother. Its as much about a symbiotic relationship as one based on dependence (you can't get much more symbiotic than your insect typewriter talking back to you and telling you what to type into it to produce the most excitable reaction!), and a big Cronenberg theme throughout all of his work seems to be what happens when some part of your existence (life, relationships) starts to spiral off into disturbing territory and whether you will be able to break away from it before it destroys you, or be unable (or unwilling, or find it unthinkable) to do so and instead feel compelled to follow into uncharted territory despite knowing that the outcome might not be a particularly good one.

Although I think rather than thinking about Cronenberg's film looking at Walter Salles' previous works will probably give a better indication of what On The Road will be like - his most famous films are philosophical road movies such as Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, and are presumably reasons for him being considered a good match for this project. They're not exactly the most radical pieces of cinema however, which leads me to think that this will probably be a straight ahead adaptation rather than any kind of controversial 'reinterpretation/reimagining' of the work.

ianungstad · #25 Post by **ianungstad** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:45 pm

This tidbit was in the Cannes column of Thompson on Hollywood today. It confirms that the film has been screened for buyers and mentions that it has a running time of 2 and a half hours:

Two, we will see Walter Salles' "On the Road" there, which has been screening for North American buyers and has not yet landed an offer it can accept. It's one of those cases where the financeers want more for the film than distributors are willing to pay upfront without seeing how audiences and critics respond. Word is the film two and a half hours long and episodic, which makes sense given that it is an adaptation of the Jack Kerouac road classic.

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