The long anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road is being released in UK this September.

By Ellena Perry on Tuesday 20th March, 2012

Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola bought the film rights in 1979 and attempted to make the film several times over the last 20 years with potential casts including Brad Pitt, Ethan Hawke and Colin Farrell.

Filming the final version began with Brazilian director Walter Salles (Central Station, Motorcycle Diaries) in 2010. Sam Riley (Control, Brighton Rock) is cast as Kerouac’s alter ego character Sal Paradise and Garret Hedlund (Troy, Tron Legacy) as his co-star Dean Moriarty. The film follows these two men of the ‘Beat Generation’, a phrase introduced in 1948 by Kerouac to characterise the underground movement of writers in Post World War II America. The film traces their numerous journeys through America and Mexico.

Kristen Stewart (Twilight) plays Moriarty’s first wife, she travels some of the way with the adventurous male stars on their road trips. Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia) plays Camille, Moriarty’s second wife. Along the way they encounter an eclectic assortment of characters, many based on Kerouac’s real friends and acquaintances.

Paradise and Moriarty find it hard staying in one place for long, they are seeking out a hedonistic life on the road, taking drugs, partying, drinking and discovering new places. However their lack of money and any kind of stable relationship make this ideal unattainable for them.

Shot very stylistically to portray the mood of the era, in locations including Canada, Argentina and Chile, the first glimpses promise an aesthetically pleasing view. Fans of the book are looking forward to see if Salles has done this emotive story justice, but with the strong cast it is set to be a success.