The trailer for The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, hit last night. It's, uh, interesting:
That beginning is some Day After Tomorrow bullshit, there.
The Road is an incredibly powerful book, and while I won't go into too much detail (for the benefit of those of who haven't read it) I will say a big part of that came from how McCarthy never explicitly described the cataclysm that led to the death of the planet and the collapse of civilization. I've heard rumors that the Weinstein Company, at a loss for how to market a movie based on a book as desolate as this, are trying to fool audiences into thinking it's some kind of post-apocalyptic action movie. Apparently Harvey is hoping people will make the titular association with The Road Warrior and not notice that the bad guys here, while lacking mohawks and motorcycles, are a thousand times more terrifying than Wez or the Humungus. If you look closely you'll notice the same sequence (Viggo and son hiding behind the leaves) is used four times. Then again, they obviously...enhanced Theron's role, so I'm not sure what to think.
Some reviews have already come out, and I hear they're pretty glowing (I don't read a movie's reviews before I've seen it), so hopefully this is just a clumsy marketing scheme. I thought Hillcoat's earlier film, The Proposition, was pretty damn good, so I'll maintain soeme cautious optimism.
Now Scott, today’s on-the-go movie audiences can’t be expected to sit patiently as a tale unfolds without a hot blonde to spice things up. What else would they Twitter about during the film?
Kinda ruins McCarthy’s expertly-done “utter hopelessness and sheer despair for all of humanity for the rest of time” theme, but that’s an obvious truth. Twuth?
Maybe it’s not too late to have Anton Cighur be the cause of the end of the world, kind of a cameo dealio?
The Road might be my favorite book I’ve read in the past handful of years. Easily one of the scariest I’ve ever read. When I heard rumors however long ago that they’d filmed a flick, it was intriguing to wonder how they’d film what I’d envisioned to be such an endlessly desolate setting….
I remind myself, after a couple or three thousand movies seen in my life, that when we film a novel, we’re not watching the novel, but someone else’s interpretation of the novel.
I guess that’s why I’m not completely optimistic over this one: I haven’t had a book hit me so hard, lately. Don’t know that a movie can match it. The trailer doesn’t make me think so.
But, we’ll see.
Hey I saw Omar from the Wire in there so it’s all good. Indeed.
I agree with you, Pete. But, the trailer scene of Viggo giving his kid that Coke (hey apocalypse dad….thanks!) seemed like a very nice nod to fans of the book. Easily one of the most touching and memorable parts for me anyway. I also hope and pray that all that Charlize we see in the trailer is all the Charlize in the movie.
And in twitter terms, I hope that when the movie comes out all the twitterazzi says “man, that was boring but sad” and/or “Dood, Charlie Theron waznt even in this shit!!”
I’m willing to hold off judgement, but my initial reaction is that this will lose what made the book so gripping, horrifying, and moving. I too fear the Road Warrior-ization.
Now I’m going to go down in the basement and see if I have anything fresh for dinner.