On The Road Official Trailer

So it's finally here, after all our blogosphere speculation. It looks good. An appropriate post considering he would have been 90 today had he not died in 1969.

On The Road Movie Miscast?

On The Road by Jack Kerouac is to be made into a film. Due for release in 2011 it is to be directed by two time BAFTA winner Walter Salles(The Motorcycle Diaries,Paris J'taim).The screenplay is being written by Jose Rivera who wrote the screenplay for the Motorcycle Diaries.So far there are reasons to be optimistic-Motorcycle Diaries was an excellent and critically acclaimed road film,so they appear to be as qualified as anyone to take a stab at On The Road.
British actor Sam Riley is to play Sal Paradise the narrator of the story.It is well documented that in the original draft of the book,Kerouac used his own name and his friends names.In the the published book all names were changed to separate himself and his friends from the activities being documented.So Sam Riley is playing Jack Kerouac.Now I am not questioning his ability to carry the part,his portrayal of Ian Curtis in Anton Corbijn's biopic Control was both moving and authentic.This was helped by Riley's resemblance to Ian Curtis.

Sam Riley and Ian Curtis

This is where the main issue with Riley being Cast as Sal Paradise/Jack Kerouac arises;he bears absolutely no resemblance to Kerouac.This wouldn't be such a bad thing if On The Road was a pure work of fiction.But it isn't.It's essentially a documentation of a time,which had to be veiled to protect those involved.The recent publication of the book with all the original names included,has reinforced the fact that the characters of the tale are real people.So fans of the book will expect Sam Riley to look like Kerouac but he doesn't.

Sam Riley

Jack Kerouac

I feel the effort could have been made to find someone who resembles Kerouac.His image is on the cover of most copies you will see in the book shop.It is an iconic image which fans won't be able to separate from the story.So now it's up to Riley to give a performance that can overcome the physical difference.Let's hope he can.

Hemingway Movies and Wide White Pants.

As we at Buzz Cats are big fans of all things 1920's especially the writing and clothes of the time I was quite excited to see the general release last month of The Garden of Eden a film adaptation of the posthumous novel by Ernest Hemingway. The plot of the book revolves around the story of a jazz age American couple, David Bourne an American writer and his wife Catherine taking an extended European honeymoon and documents the next five months of their life, the story takes place mainly in the French Riviera mostly in the Cote D'Azur. During their honeymoon they meet a young woman named Marita whom they both fall in love with and ultimately only one of them can have and things go on accordingly from there.
The Garden of Eden was the second of Hemingway's works to be published posthumously (1986) and was greeted with some controversy due to what was dubbed by Susan Seitz as "Substandard" editing. This film adaptation was greeted as a "a boundaries-breaking erotic drama" on it's screening at the RomaCinemaFest, it is directed by John Irvin and the ensemble cast includes Jack Huston (grandson of filmmaker John, and great grandson of Oscar-winning actor Walter),Mena Suvari, Caterina Murino, Richard E. Grant, and Carmen Maura. Let's hope it does the book justice and if it doesn't at least some of the clothes look great,there's a trailer below, take particular note of the matching striped T-shirts and wide legged white trousers, always a good look.