Just Garrett

Exclusive Interview

Part 2! Walter Salles and the Beat Museum Keep the Spirit of the Beats Alive

The Filming and Cast of On The Road

By: Elle Lutz

Yesterday, in Part 1 of my exclusive interview with Walter Salles and Jerry Cimino, I wrote about the movie On the Road, a collaboration among Francis Ford Coppola, Walter Salles and Jose Rivera based on Jack Kerouac’s book, “On the Road,” and the journey to bring Salles’ donated 1949 Hudson to its new home, the Beat Museum in San Francisco, CA. The film is a $25 million dollar production and it deals with the spontaneous cross-country trips and situations encountered by Sal Paradise, Dean Moriarty and friends as they sought to satisfy their lust for experience.  In Part 2, we focus more on the film itself. Specifically, can a film based on a book set in the 1950s and published in 1957 remain relevant in today’s world? Will the book’s themes, translated into film, resonate well with audiences?

I went looking for answers and approached director Salles and Beat Museum director and founder Jerry Cimino. They were both extremely gracious with their time and provided me with incredible insights.  Cimino never rushed me through our detailed conversation. Salles took the time to answer my questions despite being on vacation in his home country of Brazil for the first time in 18 months due his dedication to working on the film. Initially, I focused the discussion on the relevance of the Beats in today’s world but it was inevitable we would end up exploring the process and expectations that come from interpreting a book into film, as well as talking about the film and cast.

I turned to Cimino first to help put into context the book’s relevance in today’s world, particularly for those who may just be discovering Kerouac and the Beats.

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THE KEEPING OF A SECRET: PART ONE

Jerry Cimino, director and founder of San Francisco’s Beat Museum, had been searching for a car, specifically a Hudson, for over five years to add to the Museum’s collection but when he finally found it, he had to keep his excitement hushed for a whole year as the vehicle came to him via a film project that was still in progress.

The Hudson in question isn’t an ordinary vintage car. Its pedigree can be found in an American literature classic considered by many to be the most important novel of the Beat generation:  Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.”  The cinematic connection comes from Francis Ford Coppola and internationally acclaimed director Walter Salles’ collaboration on the aptly titled film, On the Road (OTR). The film has a star-studded cast that includes Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi, Amy Adams, and Tom Sturridge, among others.

In December 2011, Cimino was able to publicly share the big reveal when Hedlund (Tron Legacy, Country Strong) personally delivered the ’49 Hudson used in the film, which is one of the most anticipated films of 2012.  The project was filmed in 2010 across multiple locations: in the US (New Orleans, San Francisco), Canada (Montreal, Gatineau), South America (Argentina, Chile), and Mexico.  A second unit shot took place in Spring 2011 for which Salles, Hedlund and a small crew took the Hudson on an additional 4,000 mile US road trip.

Hedlund, who plays Dean Moriarty (a character modeled after Kerouac’s friend Neal Cassady, and a powerhouse inspirational source for many of the Beats), brought meaningful company with him on the road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco’s Beat Museum—Neal’s son John and Cassady family friend Albert C. Hinkle, the only living participant of the 1940s trips immortalized in the book.

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