Cannes is officially underway, which means we're now less than a week from the arrival of one of the most long-awaited films in the history of the medium: the adaptation of Jack Kerouac's "On The Road." Francis Ford Coppola wanted to direct a version of the book for decades, but having presumably decided he'd rather faff around with Val Kilmer and an iPad, passed it over to "The Motorcylce Diaries"'' Walter Salles. And from everything we've seen so far, it looks like Salles might have pulled it off, or at least come close.
Of course, what little footage we've seen so far has been from the trailer, and anyone can fool anyone with a trailer. But CanalPlus has unveiled a new video interview with Salles, that contains a few glimpses of new footage — there's a clip of Kirsten Dunst & Garett Hedlund at the 1:40 mark, more with Hedlund at the 3:26 mark and at 5:24, we get Kristen Stewart's Marylou starting to tire of the beatnik lifestyle, saying "I just want a house, a baby, something normal. I really do want that."
There's a few neat little tidbits in the first interview: for instance Stewart was cast at the age of 16, after Salles saw Sean Penn's "Into The Wild," which was recommended to the director by "Babel" helmer Alejandro González Iñárritu. The filmmaker also calls it a film about liberty, freedom and a personal voyage of discovery. And there might be much more in the second, but it's in French, and we're far from fluent. Bi-lingual K-Stew fans, this is your moment.
"On The Road" will land in theaters in late fall in the U.S. and we've been hearing word about a December date. Keep your eye out. [CanalPlus]
And for those that can speak French, here's another interview with Walter Salles though "On The Road" footage free.