Walter Salles’ adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s acclaimed novel, On The Road, is perhaps one of the year’s most contested projects. Not because of its content, but because there will be – and are – a number of people arguing that it’s a novel Hollywood shouldn’t touch. (Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby at the end of this year will no doubt meet some similar outrage).
Regardless of what many will think, the cast alone is enough to have me interested, starring Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund in the leads, with Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Elisabeth Moss, Tom Sturridge, Alice Braga, and Steve Buscemi all supporting.
The first trailer for the film surfaced last month, and was followed by two new character posters of Mortensen as Old Bull Lee (a.k.a. William S. Burroughs) and Sturridge as Carlo Marx (a.k.a Allen Ginsberg). And now we have three new posters to share, courtesy of the film’s Facebook page, showing off Adams as Jane (a.k.a. Joan Vollmer), Moss as Galatea Dunkel (a.k.a. Helen Hinkle), and Braga as Terry (a.k.a. Bea Franco).
“After the death of his father, Sal Paradise, an aspiring New York writer, meets Dean Moriarty, a wild and infectiously charismatic ex-con. They hit it off immediately. Determined to avoid the pitfalls of a narrow, prescribed life, Sal hits the road, joining Dean on what evolves into a life-changing physical and emotional odyssey. Thirsting for freedom, they discover the world, the ecstasy of experience, the connectedness of humanity and ultimately themselves. “
Salles is directing from a script by Jose Rivera, with whom he has worked on The Motorcycle Diaries, which won the writer an Oscar nomination for his efforts. With this kind of talent on board, I’m hopeful that they’ll bring a brilliant novel to the big screen in a great way.
On The Road is due out in the UK on 21st September, and as yet it doesn’t have a US release date set, but that’s almost definitely just a matter of time. As usual with the three new posters below, you can click to enlarge. And for all we’ve seen from the film so far, just click right here.
