The Road - We now have a trailer

A brilliant book looks to have a brilliant trailer.

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The Road - Esquire have seen it and loved it

John Hillcoat's adaption of Cormac McCarthy's brilliant novel, The Road, was due out last year, but was pushed back and back. It is now due in October of this year. Previously there have been reviews posted for rough cuts of the film and they were not that promising.

I really love the book so I wanted the film to be as good as it could possibly be so I was getting a little worried.

Now Esquire magazine have seen the final cut and it sounds as if things could be looking up. They say it could be the most important film of the year.

The Road is no tease. It is a brilliantly directed adaptation of a beloved novel, a delicate and anachronistically loving look at the immodest and brutish end of us all. You want them to get there, you want them to get there, you want them to get there — and yet you do not want it, any of it, to end.

You should see it for the simplest of reasons: Because it is a good story. Not because it may be important. Not because it is unforgettable, unyielding. Not because it horrifies. Not because the score is creepily spiritual. Not because it is littered with small lines of dialogue you will remember later. Not because it contains warnings against our own demise. All of that is so. Don't see it just because you loved the book. The movie stands alone. Go see it because it's two small people set against the ugly backdrop of the world undone. A story without guarantees. In every moment — even the last one — you'll want to know what happens next, even if you can hardly stand to look. Because The Road is a story about the persistence of love between a father and a son, and in that way it's more like a remake of The Godfather than some echo of I Am Legend.

A story without guarantees. In every moment — even the last one — you’ll want to know what happens next, even if you can hardly stand to look.” … “You have to see it. Really. You do. Not because it’s grim, not because it’s depressing, or even scary. The Road is all of those things, both acutely and chronically. But there was not a single stupid choice made in turning this book into this movie. No wrongheaded lyric tribute to the novel. No moment engineered simply to make you jump.

The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Academy Award winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and 12-year-old Kodi Smit McPhee.

Have a read of the full review if you wish.

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Viggo will walk along The Road in October

Dimension Films and 2929 Productions have finally announced that they will be releasing John Hillcoat’s adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel The Road, on October 16th 2009.

Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, Academy Award winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and 12-year-old Kodi Smit McPhee star in the the story of a man (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world.

It was meant to be release last year, but was knocked back. I am made up it is finally going to be released as it was one of my favourite books of recent years.

Source: /Film

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The Road - Concept art for adaption of Cormac McCarthy's excellent book

It has been an absolute age since there was anything new about The Road. It was due out last year but has pushed back and is now due out in October, 2009.

Now Quiet Earth (via /Film) have found a Flickr stream that has a load of Style Frames for The Road - Water colours, pencil sketches and photo montage based on actual location photos.

It is an absolutely stunning book, haunting, melancholy, horrific in places yet strangely uplifting and these images capture just a little of that.

I really want to see the film as I am curious how they will portray some of the scenes (especially those set at night).

Directed by John Hillcoat, screenplay by Joe Penhall. Production Design by Chris Kennedy. The Road stars Viggo Mortenson, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Kodi Smit-McPhee

What are your thoughts on the style frames? Are you excited about seeing the film or did you think the book as wa great big waste of paper?
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Classic Scene: Aragorn at the Black Gate

Thanks to Pam for sending me the link

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Classic Scene: The Prophecy - Lucifer

Christopher Walken was brilliant as the Angel Gabriel, but I really enjoyed Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer.

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Eastern Promises 2? David Cronenberg thinks so

David Cronenberg is a great director. He has made some amazing films, many of which are dark and twisted (Rabid, The Fly, Videodrome, The Brood, Existenz, etc). More recently his films have had a different kind of feel to them - History of Violence and Eastern Promises. In all that time I don't think he has made a sequel to any of his films. All that now appears to be about to change.

David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen, the writer Steven Knight, producer Paul Webster and the studio are the ones who want to see more, and that's unusual as it's the whole team, co-stars aside of course.

Speaking to MTV, Cronenberg revealed his plans.

“We are going to have a meeting very soon between me, Steve Knight and Paul Webster to discuss what the script would be...I have some very strong ideas about what I would like to see, but I would like to hear what they have to say as well. And then after that, if all goes well, Steve goes away and writes a great script. If we all like it, we make it.”

He raised the point that he had never wanted to make a sequel before now either, but explains why.

“...in this case, I thought we had unfinished business with those characters. I didn’t feel that we had finished with Nikolai and we had done a lot of research that was more than we could stuff into that one movie.”

This is great news as I thought Eastern Promises was a great film - such as nasty knife fight - and the ending certainly took Viggo's character off in a different direction.

What do you reckon? Is there enough in this to make a sequel? Would you want to see one?

Source: Filmstalker

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Good - Quad Poster for Viggo Mortensen film

The rise of national socialism in Germany should not be regarded as a conspiracy of madmen. Millions of "good" people found themselves in a society spiralling into terrible chaos. A film about then, which illuminates the terrors of now.

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The Road - First listen to Nick Cave's soundtrack

Quiet Earth found this piece of news.

In this four minute report over at BBC4, arts correspondent Rebecca Jones manages to talk to screen writer Joe Pehnall, play an interview clip with the author of The Road himself, Cormac McCarthy, and most importantly of all play a portion of music that Australian rocker Nick Cave wrote for the film.

This is the first time a single note of the score has been heard outside of a few early screening rooms so check it out. It's haunting, simple, perfect. Still no word on the actual release date of the film but Jones does confirm that the film is finished.

Can't wait to see this film. The book was brilliant.

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The Road - New photos of Viggo, Kodi and Charlize

Been a while since I heard anything about the adaption of Cormac McCarthy's excellent book, The Road. Now these new photos have hit the web.
They show Viggo Mortensen as the Man, Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Boy and Charlize Theron. Still waiting to see some photos of Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall.



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Good - Interview with Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs

Directed by Vicente Amorim, Good is set in late 1930's Germany, Viggo Mortensen stars as John Halder, an academic who find his early work used by the Nazis to promote national socialism. Halder's star rises as his best friend, a Jewish doctor (Jason Isaacs), faces increasing persecution. Subtle and deeply troubling, Good stays with you long after the movie's over.

Here are interviews with the two stars and the trailer for the movie.

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Viggo Mortensen is a bit disappointed that we won't be seeing The Road just yet.

The Road was due out this month but as you all know was pushed back to next year (go out and get the book by Cormac McCarthy, it's brilliant). Viggo Mortensen has chatted with AICN at the Chicago International Film Festival about many things and The Road came up, and here's what Viggo had to say:

"I wanted to see it. I want to see how it is."

"My understanding is that they know that they've got a story that a lot of people want to see, because of the book. And, the people that read the book, which are many, were very moved by it and by this relationship between this boy and this man, in particular, in that setting. And, I think that they are really aware of the fact that they've got one chance to do it, and if there's any little things that they still want to work on a little more, to get it just right, whether it's the music --I don't know what it is -- a variety of things, they want to do it right. And, if you rush it out before you feel in good conscience it's there ... So, I am disappointed."

"But, if they think they need a little more time, then I’d rather they took it than didn’t. There’s the thought, ‘Well, maybe, we can sneak in and get an award, nomination or something, or make some money right now’. And, then, you think about it later and go, ‘Well, if we only had done this and that, we really would have finished it, and then they really would have liked it’ or something. It doesn’t bother me that much.

What I hope they don’t do is then just put it out in February or something. I hope they wait and do it at the right time. I don’t know. Do you think it’s a fall thing?"

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Early review of the early version of The Road

One of NY Entertainment's Interns got to see an early screening of The Road. This is what he had to say about it.

However you adapt it, Cormac McCarthy's The Road is going to be bleak. Director John Hillcoat, a relative unknown, gets it just about right. Arguably the best parts of the film (aside from some stellar acting, which I'll get to in a minute) are the postapocalyptic urban exterior scenes — burnt-out malls, crumbling highways, long-abandoned neighborhoods. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Hillcoat did most of the filming in and around Pittsburgh, a bastion of urban American beauty, but every inch of the landscape and set seems to be painstakingly trashed.

Hillcoat expands the book's flashback sequences to give Charlize Theron more screen time (she's good!), and contrasts the grayscale color palette of the movie-present with the vivid one of the movie-past. Viggo Mortensen seems to play a mix of Aragorn from Lord of the Rings and Tom Stall from A History of Violence. His unnamed character is human and believable (and naked at one point — Viggo didn’t want you to forget Eastern Promises). As his son, newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee holds his own.

Hillcoat and screenwriter Joe Penhall tone down the more gruesome parts of the original novel (we don't see the baby on the spit, for example), and they never actually show any of the cannibals eating people (we only see charred bones and a severed head). The scene in the basement, with the prisoners waiting to be eaten, is jerky and brief, though the camera lingers just long enough for us to see that one legless man has already been nibbled on.

Aside from a few sound glitches and yet-to-be applied color correction, The Road seems pretty close to completion. At the end of its two-hour running time, the crowd I saw it with (made up of those lucky enough to be walking through Union Square when they were passing out free tickets last night) applauded.

What do you think of that?

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Another Pic from The Road

This photo is from Awards Daily

"We knew that the journey of making a movie out of McCarthy’s book 'The Road' would be both physically and emotionality challenging. There is a certain degree of sadness, fear and regret that 'The Man' carries inside as he strives to protect his son and ensure their survival in an impossible world." — Viggo Mortensen (Interview)

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The Road - Some thoughts from an early screening

Here are some views people had after seeing an early test screening of The Road. The film sounds as if it is still unfinished, full of temp voices, missing scenes, and unfinished special FX. There is also mention of a voiceover that doesn't quite work. This all goes someway to explain why it is being pushed back to next year. AICN have a more positive review of the film. What do you think?

Source: Quiet Earth

"The introduction is awful, featuring a roughly five-minute montage of repetitive scenery as the opening credits roll cross-cut with out-of-chronological-order flashbacks to Charlize Theron (who is awful). Theron has four short scenes, starting out as a goddess in a perfect world eating ripe strawberries degrading into madness. It's hard to present such a perfect ideal's degradation into misery in five minutes. Such little thought was put into her character that she might as well be cut from the final print."

"The scenery, make-up, and overall atmosphere are exactly as they should be, and the director really successfully shows the author's vision on the screen."

"There are continuous, stock shots of the father and son trudging across the dismal countryside punctuated by set pieces which were more often than not pretty well-done, specifically the fallout shelter and old man scenes. However these set pieces always alternated between happy and sad, leading to that annoying episodic feeling. This is what it was like:Father & Son Walk ==> Sad Set Piece ==> Walk ==> Happy Set Piece ==> Repeat ad nauseum"

"The first fifteen minutes or so are perhaps somewhat disjointed as it's very flashback-y for a while, and for a time I was worried the movie was going to put too much emphasis on Charlize. Because it keeps jumping back and forth, it takes a bit to establish the bleak world we're in, and I thought maybe they could have spread these flashbacks out more. But once the movie really gets going, it finds an excellent rhythm for a very long time."

"I think there was one positive element to the experience, and that's Nick Cave's score, and it sounded like he had only completed three or four tracks for the whole thing and they looped it as temp."

"Harvey Weinstein was at the screening, and he left early- whatever that means, I'll leave to the pundits. But not only is the film unfinished for its supposed November release date, it's also a complete fiasco on every creative level."

"Not a single scene worked. Not one. I imagine they can fix it in some way, in editing, but they can't recast the distracting supporting players, and there's only so much they can reshoot. Maybe too early to tell, but from what I could see, it's got the makings of a massive disappointment."

There have been so many fantastic films that tested terribly that I don't see this as any reason to get worried about the outcome of the film. Someone more famous than me once said that "films are made in the editing room" so once all is said and done I image the film will be more in line with our expectations. Oscar worthy? Who can say but for now things aren't looking all that sweet for our beloved The Road.

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The Road may be delayed

Looks as if The Road may be delayed until next year. Apparantly this change comes right after Harvey Weinstein moved up the release of Stephen Daldry's The Reader to early December. The Road also is not quite finished yet.

However, First Showing go on to say that this is a ludicrous decision by the Weinstein's. They say:

Well, I'm guessing that The Weinstein Company can't handle Oscar season marketing on two movies at once, even though they'd be three or four weeks apart. I can't speak for film's preparedness and if it is indeed ready or not, but I don't think it has heavy CGI work and it did shoot much earlier this year. What can speak for is the fact that The Road already has a lot of early buzz whereas The Reader does not. In fact, I hadn't even heard of The Reader until a few weeks ago. So why are they moving The Road when to me it seems like it would make more money than The Reader?

I have to agree with them. The Road is getting loads of talk around the web and The Reader simply isn't. They should be really pushing The Road as it already has a huge fan base. I know there are quite a few fans of the book who read this site - what do you think of the news?

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The Road - Official website hits and some photos from one of the people in the cellar

Here's a bit of an update on the making of Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road, into a film. Quiet Earth had some photos sent to them from the personal collection of actor Jeremy Ambler (shown to the right) who was lucky enough to play one of the unfortunate "people in the cellar." They also found the film's official website which, at the moment, is just a front page.

These photos are from when they were filming the scene the one where The Man (Viggo Mortensen and The Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) explore a seemingly empty manor only to find that it's occupied by people who keep their living food supply in the cellar.

I've just finished the book and thought it was absolutely brilliant. Suspenseful, sad but strangely uplifting. The ending is sublimely melancholy. I'm made up to see these photos and cannot wait for the film.

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Appaloosa, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Ed Harris
Starring: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons, Timothy Spall, Lance Henriksen, Adriana Gil.
Running Time: 114 minutes
Score: 7 / 10

This review by neil-476. It may contain spoilers.

Let's get it straight right from the start - Appaloosa is not a classic western. It is, however, a good western.

Appaloosa is a small town in the back of beyond, in thrall to rich local landowner Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his thuggish ranch hands. Bragg kills the sheriff and his deputies, so the Councilmen hire Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his sidekick Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen), a pair of freelance gun-for-hire lawmen, to sort the problem out. These men have an easy, almost telepathic, relationship which become complicated once Allison "Ally" French (Renee Zellweger) comes to town - she pitches herself at Virgil and hooks him although, confusingly, she also makes advances to Everett, which he rejects. Bragg is caught and convicted, but his own hired guns use Ally as a lever to have him freed. There then follows a pursuit and resolution with some minor divergences from expectations.

In many respects this is a completely traditional western, featuring a plot which has been seen, with variations, many, many times before. Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are settled into their parts, as comfortable as old clothes, before the movie begins, and the relationship between these two men is the strongest element of the movie by far. It is a handsome looking movie, although the camera was occasionally a little too jittery for my taste.

But there are some problems. Zellweger's part is not only a thankless one, it also seems not to have been fully thought through. For a sizeable chunk of the movie it is far from clear where Ally's loyalties really lie, and at least two of the false(?) hints deserve better resolution than they get.

Jeremy Irons' accent is simply awful - neither American nor English, nor even convincingly mid-Atlantic. He has done convincing American accents, but he doesn't do so here. He would have done better to simply stick with an English accent. Timothy Spall fares slightly better, but only slightly (note: see Gary Oldman for instructions on How Brits Should Do American Accents In Movies).

My final reservation is more an observation than a criticism. This film is very low on traditional western-type action - if there is more than 5 minutes' worth in total during the entire film, I would be surprised. To be fair, this is probably an accurate reflection on how things were (the movie's best line features Mortensen and Harris lying wounded after a shoot-out lasting, perhaps, 15 seconds: Mortensen says "Well, that was quick," and Harris replies, "Everybody could shoot.") So this is a character-based atmosphere piece built on a traditional western framework. As I said, not a classic, but still a rewarding movie for western fans.

Do you agree with the review? Will you be going to see the movie?

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Appaloosa Sequel - Ed Harris thinks so

From Dark Horizons.

Even though the film is not yet out, actor Ed Harris is already talking up sequels to his gritty Western "Appaloosa" opening this weekend.

Novelist Robert B. Parker wrote two sequels to the 2005 novel on which "Appaloosa" is based and which Harris thinks "could be combined into a sequel" he tells MTV News.

The second book, "Resolution", hit bookstores this year and an upcoming third novel is in the works. Harris says the idea of helming a sequel again is "interesting" and would focus on the same characters: Cole (Harris), Allie (Renee Zellweger), and Hitch (Viggo Mortensen).

As for the plot? "Allie runs off with some other guy. Cole tracks this guy down and shoots him, in cold-blooded murder. And then he goes and finds Hitch in this town, and they go partner up and they go to find Allie in Texas somewhere. She's in some whorehouse there, she's really in bad shape."

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The Road - Viggo Mortensen on cover of the book

Check out our script review for the movie.

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