The Road (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Road


image_size =
caption =
director = John Hillcoat
producer = Nick Wechsler Steve Schwartz Paula Mae Schwartz
writer = Joe Penhall
narrator =
starring = Viggo Mortensen Kodi Smit-McPhee Charlize Theron
music = Nick Cave Warren Ellis [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/fullcredits#cast]
cinematography = Javier Aguirresarobe
editing =
distributor = Dimension Films
released = November 14 2008 (limited)
runtime =
country = United States
language = English
budget = $30 million
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:417956
imdb_id = 0898367

"The Road" is an upcoming post-apocalyptic film directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall. The film is based on the 2006 novel "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, and it stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as a father and his son in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Filming took place in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Oregon. "The Road" is scheduled for a limited release on November 14 2008 and will expand afterward.

Premise

"The Road" follows the premise from the book of the same name.

Cast

*Viggo Mortensen as the Man. Mortensen explained the interaction of the father with his son, "They’re on this difficult journey, and the father is basically learning from the son."
*Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Boy.
*Charlize Theron as the Wife, who appears in flashback. Theron joined the film because she was a fan of the book and had previously worked with producer Nick Wechsler on the 2000 film "The Yards". [cite journal | first=Tatiana | last=Siegel | url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979015.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 | title=Charlize Theron hits 'The Road' | journal=Variety | publisher=Reed Business Information | date=2008-01-14 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ] The character will have a larger role in the film than she did in the book. Hillcoat said of the expanded role, "I think it's fine to depart from the book as long as you maintain the spirit of it."cite web | url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/gallery/2008/l080807_theroad/flash.htm?gid=654&aid=3108 | title=First Look: 'The Road' | work=USA Today | publisher=Gannett Company | accessdate=2008-08-07 ]
*Michael K. Williams as a thief.
*Guy Pearce as a father wandering with his family.
*Robert Duvall as an old, dying man.

Production

In November 2006, producer Nick Wechsler used independent financing to acquire film rights to adapt the 2006 novel "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. When Wechsler had watched John Hillcoat's 2006 film "The Proposition" after reading "The Road", the producer decided to pursue Hillcoat to direct the film adaptation. Wechsler described Hillcoat's style: "There was something beautiful in the way John captured the stark primitive humanity of the West in that movie." [cite journal | first=Michael | last=Fleming | url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953536.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 | title='Road' to bigscreen | journal=Variety | publisher=Reed Business Information | date=2006-11-07 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ] In April 2007, Joe Penhall was hired to script the adapted screenplay. Wechsler and his fellow producers Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz planned to have a script and an actor cast to portray the father before pursuing a distributor for the film. [cite journal | first=Michael | last=Fleming | url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117962317.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1 | title=Penhall paves 'Road' | journal=Variety | publisher=Reed Business Information | date=2007-04-01 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ] By the following November, actor Viggo Mortensen had entered negotiations with the filmmakers to portray the father, though he was occupied with filming "Appaloosa" in New Mexico with Ed Harris. [cite journal | first=Missy | last=Schwartz | url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20055675,00.html | title=Viggo Mortensen May Hit 'The Road' | journal=Entertainment Weekly | publisher=Time Inc. | date=2007-10-07 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ] With a budget of under $30 million, [cite news | first=Barbara | last=Vancheri | url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08016/849427-42.stm | title=Filming of 'The Road' leads to Pittsburgh | work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | publisher=Block Communications | date=2008-01-16 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ] filming began in southwestern Pennsylvania in late February 2008 for eight weeks and moved on to Louisiana and Oregon.cite news | url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-01-16-the-road_N.htm | title=Mortensen, Theron on 'The Road' to Pittsburgh | work=USA Today | publisher=Gannett Company | date=2008-01-16 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ] Pennsylvania, where most of the filming took place, was chosen for its tax breaks and its abundance of locations that looked post-apocalyptic: coalfields, dunes, and run-down parts of Pittsburgh. The abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike was used for much of production. The director also said of using Pittsburgh as a practical location, "It's a beautiful place in fall with the colors changing, but in winter, it can be very bleak. There are city blocks that are abandoned. The woods can be brutal. We didn't want to go the CGI world." Filmmakers also shot scenes in parts of New Orleans that had been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and on Mount St. Helens in Washington.cite news | first=Scott | last=Bowles | url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-08-06-the-road-preview_N.htm | title=Sneak peek: 'The Road' is fiction, but the bleak scenery is real | work=USA Today | publisher=Gannett Company | date=2008-08-06 | accessdate=2008-08-07 ]

Hillcoat sought to make the film faithful to the spirit of the book, creating "a world in severe trauma", though never explaining the circumstances of the apocalyptic event like in the book. According to Hillcoat, "That's what makes it more realistic, then it immediately becomes about survival and how you get through each day as opposed to what actually happened."cite news | first=Barbara | last=Vancheri | url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08115/876084-42.stm | title=Filming wraps up on post-apocalyptic 'The Road' | work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | publisher=Block Communications | date=2008-04-24 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ] Filmmakers took advantage of days with bad weather to portray the post-apocalyptic environment. Mark Forker, the director of special effects for the film, sought to make the landscape convincing, handling sky replacement and digitally removing greenery from scenes.cite news | first=Charles | last=McGrath | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/movies/27road.html | title=At World’s End, Honing a Father-Son Dynamic | work=The New York Times | publisher=The New York Times Company | date=2008-05-27 | accessdate=2008-05-27 ]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0898367|title=The Road
*amg title|id=1:417956|title=The Road
* [http://www.usatoday.com/life/gallery/2008/l080807_theroad/flash.htm?gid=654&aid=3108 Photo gallery] at "USA Today"