My Thoughts on The Road Movie Trailer

If you read this blog, you know my fond admiration for The Road – Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel centered around a man, and his son, traveling an ashen, post-apocalyptic world.

Well, a couple months ago, my buddy Mac sent me the link to the new movie trailer for The Road. Before I give my opinion, I’ll let you watch it yourself:



The trailer in my opinion, sucks. It misrepresents McCarthy’s work and what the book, and movie, is all about. Quick action-packed edits. Images of world destruction via tornadoes, fires and floods. Followed by tense world-is-ending music with lots of symbols and percussion? What the fuck was that?

I read somewhere that Mr. Miramax Weinstein was cutting two different versions of the trailer. Well, I personally think he totally missed the boat on this one.

If you had the pleasure of reading the book, you know the pace of the story is purposefully slow, reflecting the long journey, the horrifying encounters and the cumbersome day-to-day inanity in this not-so-futuristic, desolate world.

Through this trailer, one conjures images of Armageddon, The Core, The Day After Tomorrow and Deep Impact. Not a film about a father and son trying to make ends meet in a world that's gone to shit. Not even remotely portraying the story of – as my buddy Mac said - “what it really means to be a father.”

I definitely would have taken a different approach than the bastardized trailer above:

• Limited dialogue.
• Slow, off-key guitar strumming an ominous folksy tune.
• Not-so-quick edits of the wasteland.
• Close-ups of horrified, saddened faces.
• The trailer would end with a profound voiceover quote from Viggo Mortensan, with father and son walking away from the camera into the desolate landscape that God ate up and puked on a plate.

Personally, I would have taken a more hands-off approach and the let the trailer breathe, almost like the following trailers below…



Or this one:



Or even this one:

Will The Road Win Best Picture?

About a week ago, my good buddy and fellow movie geek Mac sent me an e-mail.

There was no subject line.

After I clicked on the e-mail, the copy inside simply read…

August 26, 2008. I'm going on the record and saying "The Road" will sweep the Oscars this year.

That’s it. No other copy.

Simple. Tactful. And to the point.

No “Hey, how’s it going good buddy!” or “How’s the kids?” or “Hey what do you think about Obama?”

Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-man bellowing a Mayan 2012-like prediction that The Road will sweep the Oscars this year.

I soaked the e-mail in, took a couple blinks and hit delete.

After logging off the computer for four-straight days, enjoying the Labor Day weekend, mowing the lawn, drinking a couple beers and giving my dog a bath, I’ve thought about his prediction a bit and I have this to say…

Not Gonna Happen.

Now, I’m not trying to be negative or mean or anything like that. I’ve thought long and hard about this and I’m prepared to give my reasons:

Judging by the screenplay review that he sent, I think this movie is going to be too much of a bitch slap to the members of the Academy. The plot is way too dark. The characters are bleak. There doesn’t seem to be any humor whatsoever.

It's going to be a different type of movie.

In short, it’s gonna be like Fight Club, Se7en, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Reservoir Dogs, Blade Runner or even Empire Strikes Back. Fantastic stories. Great direction. Great acting. Simply great films. And cult classics to boot.

But simply overlooked by the Academy for reasons out of our understanding. I mean, I’m still trying to figure out how Forrest Gump beat out Pulp Fiction for Best Picture during the 1995 Academy Awards.

In a nutshell, I think that’s what's going to happen with The Road.

Do I think it will be nominated? Without seeing one piece of film, I’m going to say Hell Yeah.

With Director John Hillcoat (The Proposition) at the helm, cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (The Others, Talk to Her) working behind the lens, a kick-ass screenplay adaptation of McCarthy's novel by semi-newcomer Joe Penhall not mention reading a New York Times article about the final days of s of shooting, I’m thinking it's going to be a fantastic movie.

Also, had No Country For Old Men not swept the Oscars last year, I might be onboard for my good buddy’s prediction. But, I’m thinking some other type of cream might rise to the top this year.

Something a little less depressing.

Something a bit more uplifting.

Something not as dark.

Something that doesn’t have people eating infants

With that, I'm going to one-up my good buddy Mac and give my predictions for the five Academy-award best picture nominees for the 81st Academy Awards…

The Road
Read all about what I thought about the book right here. I’m predicting nominations for screenplay, cinematography and acting.

The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan’s darkly Frank Miller-esque take on the bat is simply too good to not get the Academy’s notice. Expect a post-humus acting nod for Ledger as well.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I’ve written about it here and am convinced that Director David Fincher will chisel his almost 4-hour over-blown opus into an easily watchable 2 ½ hour masterpiece.

Miracle at St. Anna
Spike Lee’s World War II epic - based on author James McBride's fiction book - about black U.S. infantrymen trapped behind enemy lines in an Italian village with the Nazis closing in.

Revolutionary Road
Sam Mendes directs Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as a 1950’s couple trying to escape the everyday conventions of their small-town life.

So there you have it. Let’s see where the dust settles in 7 months during the 81st Academy Awards ceremony.

So, what do you think?

Filming The Road.

Speaking of great literature being adapted into film, another movie that may give Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button a run for its money this year is The Road directed by John Hillcoat, who made the gritty Australian western The Proposition.

I came across this New York Times story about the final days of shooting the film version of The Road starring Viggo Mortensan (of naked knife-fight fame in Eastern Promises and naked stair-humping fame in The History of Violence) and 11-year old Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee.

In the article Hillcoat states:

“What’s moving and shocking about McCarthy’s book is that it’s so believable. So what we wanted is a kind of heightened realism, as opposed to the ‘Mad Max’ thing, which is all about high concept and spectacle. We’re trying to avoid the clichés of apocalypse and make this more like a natural disaster.”

The article also states that screenwriter Joe Penhal (who also adapted the psychological thriller Enduring Love starring Daniel Craig in 2004) stayed close to the elements in Cormac McCarthy's novel.

Being a tremendous fan of the book, that's a relief to hear. Let's hope Hillcoat also stayed away from product placements with Spam or Del-Monte canned peaches. I'm hoping Penhal and Hillcoat also chose to keep the gruesome cannibalistic basement scene in the film as well.

It was also interesting to read that most of the filming took place in Pennsylvania - most notably Pittsburgh and Erie - because 'it offered such a pleasing array of post-apocalyptic scenery.'

Nice.

It's also nice to read that Omar (Michael Kenneth Williams) from the hit HBO series The Wire is getting some much-deserved acting work too.

That said, I'm curious to see what the end product will look like in a dark theater, or my basement.