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Q & A: How Willimon Runs Fincher's 'House ...Cannes 2012: Walter Salles and Sprawling Cast Recreate Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road,' Which is Cruising for an NC-17
What made it so difficult? Well, it's expensive to go to multiple period locations with a huge cast. And what have these historical literary figures to tell us now? Kerouac and poet Allen Ginsberg had an enormous impact on the culture, spawning the Beat Generation which led in turn to the 60s counterculture. They, like many in my parents' generation, were rebelling against the conservative mores of the time, and jazz, booze, sex, misogyny, creativity and irresponsibility were all part of the picture.
Rivera and Salles ran a four-week boot camp for the actors in Montreal, where they steeped themselves in books and films and met and interviewed many survivors and children of the Beat circle. Salles stresses that he's showing the formative years before the Beats came to life. The script is thoughtful and rigorously structured against the real criss-crossing itinerary, which the filmmakers re-traced.
And yet as fascinating and authentic as the movie is, it all comes down to Dean Moriarty. There's a reason why Kerouac (embodied in "On the Road" as writer Sal, played by Sam Riley, star of "Control") and Tom Wolfe ("The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test") devoted so many pages writing about Neal Cassady (aka Moriarty). He was a charismatic, larger-than-life speed-freak babblemouth who mesmerized the men and women around him, from multiple wives (the first two are well-played by Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst, respectively) to poet Allen Ginsberg (Tom Sturridge plays "Carlo"), with whom Moriarty/Cassady had a sexual relationship (as depicted in the less successful "Howl").
7 Comments
Steve | May 31, 2012 7:44 PM
NC-17 for gratuitous hand jobs?
Tango | May 25, 2012 2:04 AM
Adults won't go to see this. They can't stand Kristen Stewart, she's like box office poison for indies, they never make a dime if she's in one, and they've never heard of Hedlund or Riley. None of these actors embody those characters and in fact, their casting is rather insulting to anyone who's a fan of the book. Hedlund's been trying to break out for years now, and it just isn't happening. Riley deserved better than having to act with those two, he's not responsible for this mess. Stewart needs strong co-stars to carry any film she's in, she's never done it on her own and she's a detriment to OTR. Just imagine Evan Rachel Wood in this role--she's only 23 and is so much more accomplished and can still look 17, she did in Mildred Pierce.
Dougie | May 24, 2012 4:04 PM
Has anyone under 60 evah heard of Kerouac, Gins, etc?
Yawn.
Pec | May 23, 2012 8:51 PM
The film won't get NC-17 rating. IFC can release the film unrated.
jeremy | May 23, 2012 12:22 PM
Why, specifically, is it cruising for an NC-17 rating?