August 05, 2005

I dream of old Dean Moriarty. "On the Road", Beat Bible and required reading for any sullen teen wanting to get out of their hick town, finally to make it to the big screen. Brace yourself -- this will either be glorious, or an abomination and sin against nature.

Directing can go either way -- Coppola is a genuis of the "what have you done for me lately" variety. Script is in good hands. Which leaves the actors. Which, so far, is leaving me uneasy...

posted by Capt. Renault 18 years ago
  • My first instict is NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Don't make "On the Road" into a movie!! You can't do it justice. But then, I would have said the same about "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" a few years ago.
  • Does this mean I'll have to read the damn book, rather than just name-dropping him?
  • Me too, good Capt. Coppola is producing, and the director and screenwriter could be quite good (Walter Salles & Juan Rivera--The Motorcycle Diaries certainly had the right feel). Brad Pitt as Dean could be brilliant. IMDB has Russell Banks doing the screenplay. But I dread other aspects of the production...
  • I love this book! In fact, I recently had a conversation with my cab driver 'brother wayne' about this book and several other authors (ginsberg, cassidy) of the time period. When he dropped us of he was invited in for a beer and a conversation about the state of America. Didn't charge us for the ride, and got a fat tip anyway. This is the one book that I remember reading in H.S. It definitely changed my life. I've had a deep desire to drop everything and get out there since. I did grow up in a 'hick' town and believe that this book gave me hope that somewhere out there there were others I didn't know who felt the same way. I feel 'hooray', but have reservations about the movie industry doing it justice.
  • ON THE ROAD Sal ............,......... Keanu Reeves Dean Moriarty ....... Samuel L. Jackson Sal's Girlfriend ...... Paris Hilton * Soundtrack by Snoop Dogg & the Eastsidaz * $27 million budgeted for CGI effects (to simulate all the scenes outside of L.A. and one shootout)
  • what about the tricked out Hudson with the 15" subs and the 22" lorinser, main?
  • Russel banks wrote the novel to one of my favorite movies, "The Sweet Hereafter". I didn't like the book. He also wrote the novel to the movie "Affliction". I hated that movie, didn't read the book.
  • Well if it's as good as " Dracula " we're really in for a treat !
  • "Deadbeat Dads Waste The Childsupport: The Movie" Sal Paradise: Ben Stiller Dean Moriarty: Owen Wilson Old Bull Lee: Will Ferrell Carlo Marx: Luke Wilson Elmer Hassel: Vince Vaugn
  • crudup did a pretty damn fine job in almost famous. "I am a golden god".
  • you mean they're selling out my childhood/young adult heros and packaging them into plastic action figures???? from what i've heard and read, no one could capture dean/neal cassady on screen, just wouldn't do it justice.
  • I look forward to this. If Coppola can bring the sensitivity he brought to films like The Conversation to this project, it has a chance.
  • The quality of a book and the quality of a movie based on the book seem to me to be completely unrelated, but people always want to compare them and demand that the quality be the same. I didn't hear anyone say, "Pirates of the Caribbean was good, but I thought that ride was better;" or "I loved Super Mario Brothers. Bob Hoskins really was exactly like I pictured Mario to be."
  • Unfortunately I haven't seen Motorcycle Diaries yet but from all indications Walter Salles as Director of On the Road sounds like an eminently sensible choice. I will look forward to this. Coppola of course is a genius so I suspect we will be in for a treat. God, I loved that book. "The sorrowful poetic conman with the dark mind" = Dean Moriarty.
  • I loved the book and trust Coppola to a reasonable degree, but I just don't see how it could possibly make the transition from the page to the screen.
  • As bad as the book is, it's unlikely the movie will even be watchable.
  • You have got to respect the man for taking on such a challenge. I hope he can pull it off.
  • "That's not writing; that's typing."