First Look at The Road

[beegee]

From USA Today:

Imagining the end of the world is not easy, especially if you're not going to create one with a computer. But director John Hillcoat and filmmakers of The Road believe they discovered it in Pittsburgh.

"It's a beautiful place in fall with the colors changing," Hillcoat says. "But in winter, it can be very bleak. There are city blocks that are abandoned. The woods can be brutal. We didn't want to go the CGI world."

"We wanted the heightened reality in the book."

That book is Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winner of the same name. It's about a father and son who navigate a countryside devastated by an unnamed catastrophe.

But most of the film was shot in and around Pittsburgh.

Hillcoat found abandoned coal fields, a deserted amusement park and an 8-mile stretch of closed freeway as locations.

"It's tangible, the misery and hopelessness and the bleakness," Mortensen says. "It gives you much more to work with if you're filming in that world instead of a green screen.

"You have to bring a story to life in a movie in a way you don't have to in a book — even a book as powerful as that."

But Mortensen says that, like the book, the film adaptation is more than bleak imagery.

"I spoke with Cormac before we started shooting," he says. "I think what's made this story so universally loved is because it's really about protecting your child, no matter what the circumstances.

"At its core, it's a love story."

Opens November 26th

LINK

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I am really looking forward to this one, the book was awesome.

 

[beegee]

I'm looking forward to it as well since the book is still so fresh on my mind.

I am thrilled to hear that they are staying away from CGI, I think it's going to make the film much more powerful.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I think the only thing they should use CGI effects for would be for backgrounds and wide shots and maybe colorizing the picture like they did in the LOTR films. But yeah, it would have to be subtle, not in your face.

Honestly though, I could see this film being done in Black and White except for the flash backs since the imagery is so monochromatic for the most part...

 

[lazarus]

Omar from The Wire is in this.

SWEET.

 

[impy13]

This is my most anticipated film now. I adore the book.

 

[No spoken words]

oh, and



What a fucking book.

Some people from the Wire go on to pop up in films like the Road, and some appear in 90210 remakes.

 

[Dalton]

If they don't enlarge the character from the novel, Charlize Theron is PERFECT for the mother's role. All blonde, pretty and voluptuous. She'll stand in very stark contrast to their present predicament.

Am I the only one that thinks this should be shot in black and white with the flashbacks and the shelter in color?

 

[lazarus]

Wait, who from The Wire is on 90210 reboot?

 

[Dalton]

John Singelton.

 

[No spoken words]

Wait, who from The Wire is on 90210 reboot?

Michael.

 

[Dalton]

If they don't enlarge the character from the novel, Charlize Theron is PERFECT for the mother's role. All blonde, pretty and voluptuous. She'll stand in very stark contrast to their present predicament.

Am I the only one that thinks this should be shot in black and white with the flashbacks and the shelter in color?

Comments welcome.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

ahem:

Honestly though, I could see this film being done in Black and White except for the flash backs since the imagery is so monochromatic for the most part...

 

[Dalton]

ahem:

Sorry man, I don't usually bother to read your posts.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Sorry man, I don't usually bother to read your posts.

I was going to say the same thing about you!

 

[Dalton]

I'm glad for that. You seem like a busy guy, I certainly wouldn't want to bog you down with more shit.

 

[Lancemc]

Wasn't crazy about the novel, but I'm still really looking forward to this. The film could really take advantage of the world McCarthy created in the prose and deliver something really unique.

 

[beegee]

If they don't enlarge the character from the novel, Charlize Theron is PERFECT for the mother's role. All blonde, pretty and voluptuous. She'll stand in very stark contrast to their present predicament.

Am I the only one that thinks this should be shot in black and white with the flashbacks and the shelter in color?

You guys did click the link and look at the pictures, yes?

 

[Dalton]

I did. It looks colorless, but that doesn't mean its black and white.

 

[beegee]

I was referring more to your comment on Charlize Theron.

 

[Dalton]

I saw that Theron is going to be in the film. My hope is that they don't expand her character's role in the story. If they keep her character JUST as it is in the novel, I think she is perfect for the role.

If they add more scenes of her in the post apocalyptic world, I think she will look out of place.

 

[Dalton]

Never mind: I just clicked on the link with the pictures. That's too bad. I found her character to be haunting precisely because of the fact that we know so little about her.

 

[beegee]

I really should have posted a direct link to the pictures.

I was at work.

I wasn't thinkin'

Images from The Road

 

[Dalton]

I really should have posted a direct link to the pictures.

I was at work.

I wasn't thinkin'

Images from The Road

No kidding. Help me out. I can barely read.

Don't you agree though? The mother's character is so perfect because she is so elusive. She's the only tenderness in this world and she exists in a memory and even that needs to be separated from her final act.

When I was reading the book I remember thinking about the line by Agent Smith in the original Matrix when he told Morpheus that the thing he hated most about the made up world they inhabited was the smell because it saturated everything. I felt that way about the book. I was surprised at how deeply I sensed McCormac's fictional world.

 

[beegee]

Don't you agree though? The mother's character is so perfect because she is so elusive.

I do agree, and I'm hoping that the scenes with her in them are few and brief.

I really think they can make it work and they just might, considering the lengths they went to in order to keep the feel of the rest of the film.

 

[u2popmofo]

Am I the only one not pleased with the general look of the photos? Not how I imagined it from the book's description. Close, but no where near as apocalyptic as they make it feel. Where's all the ash?

Oh wellz.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Am I the only one not pleased with the general look of the photos? Not how I imagined it from the book's description. Close, but no where near as apocalyptic as they make it feel. Where's all the ash?

Oh wellz.

I'm sure they'll fix that in post

 

[beegee]

Who knows, maybe they couldn't get a permit to cover Pittsburgh with ash.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Who knows, maybe they couldn't get a permit to cover Pittsburgh with ash.

obvious question: Isn't Pittsburgh already covered in ash?

 

[No spoken words]

When I was reading the book I remember thinking about the line by Agent Smith in the original Matrix when he told Morpheus that the thing he hated most about the made up world they inhabited was the smell because it saturated everything. I felt that way about the book. I was surprised at how deeply I sensed McCormac's fictional world.

I find that occurs with all of McCarthy's writing.

His writing is very evocative and lush.

Yes, he's not McCormac, he's Cormac, or McCarthy, or Cormac McCarthy.