The Road coming in 2008... (1 Viewer)

[Brett_M]

You may be right. Time will tell.

Perhaps your concerns are on their collective minds, as well. Will the adaptation be "brighter?" God forbid...a sci-fi action film?

 

[bosque]

I read the book in a day and it was the bleakest, most grimly unpleasant thing imaginable. If the event in the book which reduced the US to charcoal actually happend, then no doubt those left alive (when not eating parts of people they'd kept in a living larder) would envy the dead but why this was felt to be sufficient for the author to project it in novel form escapes me. Can't see it being a crowd pleaser, more the sort of thing to preach to the converted.

 

[Brett_M]

The events outlined in the book are horrifying -- no doubt. But the theme is about hope -- a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. To survive. Better yet, a father driving his son to survive.

That's the greatest of stories. Who wouldn't want to see the struggle, the lowest lows and the highest highs? Not a crowd-pleaser? Who says we all need to be pleased at a movie? There are plenty of Wild Hogs and Made of Honor flicks to do that.

I want to be moved, transported. I want to experience their struggle, be beaten down and raised again by their heart, their love and their fight.

I want to carry the fire, too.

 

[GuruAskew]

Not really, only "All the Pretty Horses" and "No Country for Old Men".

I mean, that is technically a number: 2, but it's not as if he's the kind of director where every book he's ever written has instantly had the rights snatched up and been subsequently fast-tracked into production.

and to be honest, all 3 of his movies have been produced based on the books themselves. Hollywood wasn't scrambling to make "The Road" in order to repeat the success of "No Country for Old Men" or strike while the iron was hot or anything. The book was phenomenally successful, the movie followed.

If anything, it's amazing that "No Country" and "The Road" are even being made after "Horses". I think it's a great adaptation of the book but it was a big bomb for Miramax and the reviews were mixed at best.

I will say this: if "The Road" is as big as it should be based on the popularity of the book and "No Country" I think that will be the point where Hollywood goes Cormac-crazy and you start seeing his other books get dusted off. Of course, Ridley Scott has been circling "Blood Meridian" for a long time but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more Cormac movies in the next 5-10 years.

 

[Brett_M]

Some new info and a pic via Joblo.com and USA Today:

New Road pic online

 

[Brett_M]

The Road script reviewed!

Some minor spoilers:

Quiet Earth World Exclusive: THE ROAD script review

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I'm on page 71 right now, and it's very powerful and primal material. They got exactly the right director, I know that. I'll post more thoughts once I finish the novel.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Great book Chuck. I`m really looking forward to the film.

 

[Brett_M]

Looking forward that, Chuck.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

It might not be long...I chewed through to page 215 last night

Seems like it'd be easy to make a movie from first glance (cheap)...but I think it might have been REALLY hard (script). But they certainly hired the right people. I should finish it today.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Finished, and I caught up on the thread. I rarely like to see a film before I read the book, so I ordered this (along with Blood Meridian) a few weeks back. Finally committed to it two nights ago, and here I am finished with it.

Many of my thoughts are covered by other members within this thread, but I'll add my own two cents.

The story itself is sparse and stripped to the very literal core. I agree that it is written in a style only a master could make work (and he absolutely does). This isn't a great analogy, but I'll use it. I know Mike Mignola can draw because he can do it with so few lines...no clutter, no confusion. Same with McCarthy. There are no wasted words. It's extraordinarily evocative, painfully bleak, and devastating in it's completeness. It honestly reminded me of a videogame I played a while back called Shadow of the Colossus - the conceit was to strip everything away except for the basics. And see if that made the experience more pure or emotional. And it does. Both for that game, and a hundredfold more here.

I do think the world as it is presented is the result of a complete nuclear attack, for the same reasons mentioned above. The constant ash, the references to heat damage (or deformation), the way the sky looks...those are all confirmed after effects of a nuclear blast.

I loved the purity of the theme. It's both the most hopeless and most hopeful book I've ever read. The former from the crushing desperation and impossibility of the situation, and the latter from simply facing that. As a father of a 5 year old boy, certain scenes resonated pretty deeply. I think any parent or child can relate though. The genders are irrelevant, although the ages are pretty important. It distills down the core fears of being a parent to their prime constituent.

It's one of the best books I've ever read, but it took a bit out of me, so maybe I'll hit a beach read up next

I almost felt lost just reading the thing.

Anyways, it'll be a challenging film for the audience. But I'll there opening day. Looking at the pictures now, I'm very impressed with the casting, especially of the child.

 

[Jari K]

I´m hugely looking forward to this one. Viggo seems to be doing excellent choices with his movies and this subject (and "the look" of the film) sounds great.

This is "Mad Max"-type of post-apocalyptic film, right?










(just kidding.. )

 

[Jim_C]

I have mixed feelings about seeing this film. On one hand, I want to see what could be a phenomenal film but on the other I found the book devastating and I'm not sure I want to experience that again anytime soon. I have two sons, ages 8 and 3. While reading the book I couldn't help but think of them constantly and I think that added to the emotion I felt. I know that many feel the book is hopeful, and I can see that, but I personally couldn't feel it. I rarely cry over anything but the end of The Road had me in tears.

I'll probably see the film but I honestly don't know if I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Brett_M]

Your insight is keen, as usual. I agree that this will challenge an unprepared audience. But I say -- what's wrong with that?

By the way, I just finished Blood Meridian and I have mixed feeling about it...very mixed. The Road, on the other hand, is the best book I have ever read, well, ever experienced.

 

[John Doran]

just finished the book a few days ago, and i still haven't recovered. not sure i ever will; not sure i want to.

it is agonizingly beautiful. lacerating.

i'm not sure how it is even possible to make this into a film. more precisely: i am not sure if it is possible to make a film of the source material that will retain the emotional characteristics of the text: so much of what makes the book so powerfully moving is the austere poetry of mccarthy's prose-style, and i don't see how to instantiate that on film.

which isn't to say that it won't be a great movie, but only that it's hard for me to imagine that it will be great in a similar way to the book's greatness; in which case it is also hard for me to see how i won't come away disappointed.

i realize that these are observations about intensely personal reactions to differing modes of artistic expression, but i just thought i'd put them out there anyway.

not sure if i'll go to the theatre to see this...

 

[Tino]

I'm NOT a parent and this book destroyed me. I was moved to tears. One of the best I have ever read and if the film is half as good as the book, it will win the Oscar for best picture.

Amazing

 

[Brett_M]

Release date change is possible...

The Road delayed?

 

[mattCR]

I love the book. Love the book. But there are lots of great books that didn't make for movies that caught on with the public. "Bonfire of the Vanities" is one of my other favorite books.. and the adaptation is, well, uh, not so good. I thought "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" was an almost can't miss as a feature film; the characters were so well drawn, the dialog sharp. With the director like Clint Eastwood, how could it not be a hit?

Lots of things happen. I'm definitely interested in this, but I found the appraisal your critical of to be a reasonable thought. Even great films sometimes don't find an audience. Nothing is ever a sure thing.

 

[buttmunker]

I think fans of Viggo Mortesen (sp?) would come to see The Road, whether they know about the book or the nature of the story or not.

Of course, you have fans of Cormac who would see the film, despite whatever actors are playing.

I mean, a film can draw many different kinds of fans. Considering the streak of good films Viggo has been in, I'm sure this film will find a Home.

 

[Eric Peterson]

I assumed that something was amiss when neither an official website or trailer had been launched yet. I'm really disappointed because for the first time in a long time, I went out of my way to read the book first. It was my first McCarthy novel and while I like it quite a bit, I didn't love it as much as others. I still felt that it should make a great film though and was very exited to see it.

I hope that this delay is purely for post production issues and not because the studio thinks it's a dud.