If you’ve ever spent any extended time in a coffee shop or a freshman dorm, chances are you’ve seen a good number of young people with open hearts and confused eyes dutifully thumbing through the pages of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.” It’s one of those books you just have to get into when you’re coming of age, like “The Catcher in the Rye,” or, if you’re a sociopath, Ayn Rand’s stuff. Given the book’s enduring popularity, it’s strange that it’s taken so long for Hollywood to make a big screen adaptation, but, nevertheless, the wait is over, and the first trailer for the film is here.
How does it look? Well, it looks like director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and his camera crew have shot a beautiful film. And seeing as the narration put over this trailer quotes one of the most famous passages from Kerouac’s novel, it looks like he’s made a film that’s very much On the Road. This seems to be a straight adaptation; the essence of the book put up on the screen, without any unexpected detours.
Salles cast Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund as the protagonists, Kristen Stewart as the girl, and a crew of supporting actors including Amy Adams, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi, Elisabeth Moss, and Terrence Howard to help bring this one to life. Why not relive your days as a lost youth by giving the trailer and look and seeing how they’ve interpreted some beloved material?
On the Road starts rolling out in New York and L.A. on December 21st, and then makes its way across the country starting in January, 2013. [Apple]