On The Road

Somehow I missed the trailer for The Road that showed up on Yahoo last month, so this is news to me if not to anyone else. Apple has just posted some HD trailers for this Cormac McCarthy adaptation from John Hillcoat, the director of the bloody Outback oater The Proposition (highly recommended).

Although the trailer itself follows the tired convention of the television broadcast narration (exhibit A: Blindness), it's the one film this year I'm anticipating the most. The novel was thoroughly deserving of the Pulitzer Prize McCarthy walked away with in 2007, although placement in the Oprah Book Club was probably an unwarranted punishment.

Like Proposition, The Road will feature a score composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis--the team responsible for the beautiful music of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Guy Pearce, who played the bedraggled outlaw in Hillcoat's last film, is back in a bit role here. And Viggo Mortensen seems entirely suited the role of "The Man."

Also interesting to note, a lot of the film was shot in south central Pennsylvania, around the Harrisburg area. Specifically, the highway tunnel is part of an abandoned segment of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I saw it when I was a kid and it is eerie in real life, too. Or at least it was then. The Road was also filmed in Louisiana. Unfortunately, the location scouts probably had no difficulty finding abandoned highways and devastated buildings there. For an interesting short article about the filming from last year, check out Filmmaker Magazine.

After a lot of release date shuffles, The Road will hit theatres on Oct. 16.