On The Road, Finally

Movie News

The long awaited movie version of Jack Kerouac's On The Road started filming August 2010 and is scheduled to be released in theaters in 2012. The movie is being produced by Francis Ford Coppola and directed by Walter Salles.

According to IMDb (Internet Movie Database), the movie's plot is described as follows: "A young man sets out to travel the roads and railways of America." That is a brief synopsis, but it captures in a succinct manner the central basis behind the book. Of course, we all know that the book is much more than that with each person having their own interpretation of what the book means to them.

The book continues to inspire a new group of readers of each subsequent generation since its original publication in 1957. The book received moderate success at that time, reaching number 11 on the best seller list. It still continues to sell at a moderate but consistent level, appealing mostly to the younger audience. However, the Kerouac flame is also carried on by aging poets/writers and other 'artist' types, many who read Kerouac back when the book was first published. They are still enthusiatic and their ability to appreciate the creative word has not diminished over time. Some of the messengers, like musician/composer David Amram, actually hung out with Kerouac and are still spreading the message of bebop spontaneity.

The movie will also reach a new audience of people who have never even heard of Kerouac, much less read any of his books. It will be interesting to see what effect the movie will have on them and whether it will inspire them to read Kerouac (which is how everyone got to appreciate his writings up to this point). What I have always enjoyed was sticking a Kerouac paperback in my bag and reading it in new and interesting places: whether in a cafe in San Francisco, on the subway in New York City, or on the mountain top of Desolation Peak.

Some long-time Kerouac fans were concerned that if a movie were ever made of Kerouac's sacred tome, that it would be just another big overblown Hollywood production with no resemblance to the novel. It was important that the movie take into account the book's creative impact and literary importance. These concerns may be unwarranted as Coppola and Director Salles seem intent on capturing the essence of Kerouac's book.

The On The Road movie has been in the works for years, with the movie rights being owned by Francis Ford Coppola since the 1970s. Coppola's previous projects included The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and The Black Stallion, all which received critical acclaim.

The director, Brazilian born Walter Salles who directed The Motorcycle Diaries, was quoted in The Hollywood Reporter as saying, "On the Road is a seminal book that gave voice to a whole generation -- capturing its hunger for experience, unwillingness to accept imposed truths and dissatisfaction with the status quo."

Even Kerouac didn't expect the movie version to be identical to the book. He wrote in a letter to Marlon Brando dated 1957, "Don't worry about the structure, I know to compress and re-arrange the plot a bit to give a perfectly acceptable movie-type structure: making it into one all-inclusive trip instead of the several voyages coast-to-coast in the book, one vast round trip from New York to Denver to Frisco to Mexico to New Orleans to New York again. I visualize the beautiful shots could be made with the camera on the front seat of the car showing the road (day and night) unwinding into the windshield, as Sal and Dean yak. I wanted you to play the part because Dean (as you know) is no dopey hotrodder but a real intelligent (in fact Jesuit) Irishman. You play Dean and I'll play Sal (Warner Bros. mentioned I play Sal) and I'll show you how Dean acts in real life...we can go visit him in Frisco..." [see below for more content of the letter]

The book had many false starts in the attempt to bring it to the big screen. It went thrz ough a series of screenplays before settling on the current one by Jose Rivera, the screenwriter for "The Motorcycle Diaries." Previous versions were written by Michael Herr, Barry Gifford, Russell Banks, and Coppola and his son Roman also took a stab at it. Supposedly, even Jack Kerouac wrote a screen play for his book. Unsubstantiated names of actors in the leading roles floated though the internet over the past 15 years and included Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Ethan Hawke and Brad Pitt among others.

Coppola realized the immensity of the project. Coppola told reporter David Gritten in 1997 that he originally wanted to shoot On the Road in black and white on 16 mm film. Coppola said, "I tried to make it, but couldn't get the money... Now it keeps becoming more important."

Kerouac wrote what came to be known as On The Road on a 'scroll' in 3 weeks in 1951 (though that was not the first version). The book was finally published in 1957 by Viking. Gilbert Millstein praised the book in his review for the New York Times Book Review (though he was not the regular book reviewer) starting the review off with the following:

On the Road" is the second novel by Jack Kerouac, and its publication is a historic occasion in so far as the exposure of an authentic work of art is of any great moment in an age in which the attention is fragmented and the sensibilities are blunted by the superlatives of fashion (multiplied a millionfold by the speed and pound of communications). [read the complete 1957 review here]

The book went on to become what it became- a book that was influential in creative circles and whispered about in subterranean caverns beneath bars and bookstores throughout the four corners of the world. Now, some 50 years later, it is being made into a movie. We'll see what the reviewers have to say, and then we'll listen to what the movie goers have to say.

Coming soon to a theater near you, On The Road, the movie. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

PS - Production of Big Sur has also begun, with the movie scheduled to come out in theatres in 2012.

There is also a twitter floating around saying that the movie will be playing at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

 

Major Cast Members

Selected links related to the On The Road movie

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) - a website that has all sorts of information on the movie and actors

Wikipedia's On The Road movie page

The Long and Grinding Story of On The Road - nice article from The Independent on the development of the movie. (dated 9/12/08)

An Video Interview with screenwriter Jose Rivera by City TV Video

The Beat Museum's Movie Page

On The Road to Nowhere - early article in the Telegraph (UK) about the difficulties of getting the movie into production. (dated 4/16/2004)

On The Road Again - Article (dated 6/4/2005) that talks about how Kerouac wanted Marlon Brando to play the role of Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady)

Letter from Jack Kerouac to Marlon Brando - letter was sold at Christie's Auction house on June 30, 2005 for $33,600.

From the auction page: An important letter from Jack Kerouac to Marlon Brando suggesting to Brando that he play the role of Dean in a proposed film of Kerouac's book On The Road, the typescript letter, signed, [n.d. but circa late 1957], the letter beginning I'm praying that you'll buy ON THE ROAD and make a movie of it, Kerouac outlines how he envisages the film could be made: Don't worry about the structure, I know to compress and re-arrange the plot a bit to give a perfectly acceptable movie-type structure: making it into one all-inclusive trip instead of the several voyages coast-to-coast in the book, one vast round trip from New York to Denver to Frisco to Mexico to New Orleans to New York again. I visualize the beautiful shots could be made with the camera on the front seat of the car showing the road (day and night) unwinding into the windshield, as Sal and Dean yak. I wanted you to play the part because Dean (as you know) is no dopey hotrodder but a real intelligent (in fact Jesuit) Irishman. You play Dean and I'll play Sal (Warner Bros. mentioned I play Sal) and I'll show you how Dean acts in real life...we can go visit him in Frisco, or have him come down to L.A. still a real frantic cat..., Kerouac expresses his aim in making the film All I want out of this is to able to establish myself and my Mother a trust fund for life, so I can really go around roaming around the world...to write what comes out of my head and free to feed my buddies when they're hungry..., Kerouac discusses his forthcoming novel The Subterraneans and his thoughts on American cinema: what I wanta do is re-do the theater and the cinema in America, give it a spontaneous dash, remove pre-conceptions of "situation" and let people rave on as they do in real life...The French movies of the 30's are still far superior to ours because the French really let their actors come on and the writers didn't quibble with some preconceived notion of how intelligent the movie audience is...American theater & Cinema at present is an outmoded dinosaur that ain't mutated along with the best in American Literature..., the letter ending Come on now Marlon, put up your dukes and write!,, signed in blue ink Jack Kerouac, 1p.

Lot Notes
Interestingly, a collection of letters from Jack Kerouac to his friend Leo Garen, was sold through these rooms in 1998 [Pop Memorabilia, Christies East, 4 February, 1998] - a postcard in that lot alluded to this correspondence with Brando: We'll make millions someday, watch, with new ideas. I wrote a long letter to Brando about my ideas and no answer. Okay. We'll see...

 

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NOTE: Big Sur is also being made into movie to be released 2012, see IMDB for details.

 

If you have information or articles on the movie that you think would be of interest please let us know:

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