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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