First Look
A First Look at Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’
Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 8, 2008
It takes true talent behind the camera and a little bit of movie magic to make Pittsburgh look this bad.
USA Today has a sneak peek at the upcoming film, The Road, an adaption of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. The six new photos show a bleak and grey world representing America after an unidentified catastrophe. They also show some of the few remaining survivors who are left to wander the desolate landscape searching in vain for something in color. And probably food, shelter, and safety as well.
The film stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-Mcphee as a father and son trying to survive after the aforementioned apocalypse, and Charlize Theron as the wife/mother they’re either trying to reach, or remembering in flashbacks… As impressive as these landscape and scenery shots are, the real haunting power is in the actors’ eyes. Mortensen looks to be a man on the verge of losing everything and willing to do anything to prevent that loss.
“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 it’s core, it’s a love story.”
The Road is directed by John Hillcoat who did an equally amazing job of making the Australian outback look unforgiving and unwelcoming in The Proposition. Hillcoat eschewed any help from CGI or green screens in preference to a real world location. He found his perfect post-apocalyptic setting in and around Pittsburgh, PA. “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.” Mortensen adds that “It’s tangible, the misery, and hopelessness, and bleakness.” So book your flights now folks! They’ll be going fast once the Pittsburgh Travel and Tourism Bureau gets wind of these quotes.
The Road is scheduled to hit theaters on November 26, 2008.
Have a look at the rest of the images below:
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10 Comments
August 8th, 2008 at 11:43 am
This looks great. If it stays true the book, the scenes with Charlize Theron should just be flashbacks. She shouldn’t actually appear in the movie’s “present tense.” It’s really all about father and son.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
i was an extra in this movie.. i just screamed for my life.. can’t wait to see it on the big screen
August 8th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Maybe they’ll get round to it in post production but I think it’s far too sunny. The sun is
hardly there, is a point the book makes over and over. The clothes are are in better
condition than I had constructed in my head. I agree with ty that the mother should be
strictly flashback - this is not some human version of Disney’s “Homeward Bound: The
Incredible Journey”.
August 8th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I read the book for school years ago. This is an awesome story. The casting is near-perfect save the kid being younger in the book. I’m impressed though, I’m really going to go see this movie anyway despite the scare factor, and how I may not sleep that night. The book was just as good as the movie. I say read it before you go see the movie. I haven’t done that with other book/movie combos.
August 8th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
The pictures make it look like an action flick. It is not.
August 9th, 2008 at 1:43 am
A little too sunny, yeah, but I’m just curious to see another McCarthy piece get adapted. Hopefully this will become a trend of adapting his work through different directors every time.
August 9th, 2008 at 5:30 am
McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (aka Evening Redness in the West) is set to become a film as well.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Just the visuals create mad atmosphere… Can’t wait.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I can’t wait to see this. A book hasn’t sat with me for this long in ages. I couldn’t stop
thinking about it for days.
BUT, I agree, the mother character (Charlize) better not be in for longer than a couple 30
second flashbacks and the characters should be as ageless and nameless as the book. It is
father and son- nothing else. And as far as casting goes, it looks ideal to me. The boy was
of no specified age.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:56 am
If anyone can do this brilliant book cinematic justice it is Hillcoat.
Everything looks good; fine casting too - great to see Williams again!
T