Walter Salles talks Kerouac's On The Road
Story by Jack Foley
WALTER Salles, the Brazilian-born director of The Motorcycle Diaries and US horror remake Dark Water, has spoken of his intention to adapt Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel On The Road as his next project.
Speaking in London during the promotion of his latest movie, Linha De Passe, Salles said that the idea came to him after he’d finished shooting a documentary following in the steps of [Jack] Kerouac when he wrote the novel.
“I was privileged to meet many beat poets and writers who are still alive… and characters of the films, such as Carolyn Cassady who lives here in the UK, near London,” he explained.
“It allowed me to have an inside view of that world at that time, and why that journey existed, and what are the possible parallel with today’s world?”
Salles is well-known for giving period pieces contemporary resonance, just as he did with The Motorcycle Diaries, and he candidly admits that “to do a period piece is something that truly bears no interest to me as a filmmaker”.
But he claims that filming the documentary enabled him to “connect that narrative to our contemporary dilemmas”.
The director is currently location scouting now and, in October, hopes to start casting the film with a view to hopefully shooting in February and March (2009).
However, he still has to see if he can fit into a specific budget “because in the US it’s not easy”.
“We can’t shoot like we did on The Motorcycle Diaries or Linha De Passe, with a small crew that can be altered depending on what you’re doing. The parameters [in the US] can be much more defined and therefore limited,” he explained.
If he does find a way, then Salles would ideally like to discover a new young actor for the lead role, as well as approaching some veterans he’s admired for some time as a filmmaker.
Without giving any names away, he told IndieLondon: “These were young guys ranging from 16-years-old to 25, so it’s not that you can have an extremely well-known actors in those parts. The project asks for that kind of discovery, or at least to enable me to see a number of young, talented actors if the film becomes a reality.
“Alongside that, you will have actors that I’ve loved throughout the years and would like to invite for specific roles. That is what we’d possibly be doing from March, if we film it.”
On the Road was written in April 1951 and published in 1957, after which it quickly became considered a defining work of the post-war Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences.
It’s a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America.
Read the full Walter Salles interview