Get excited – The Road is coming

My new favourite blog, Public School Intelligentsia, have posted a couple of pictures from the upcoming adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road”

If you haven’t read any work by Cormac McCarthy, go do so now.

I mean, right now. Drop what you’re doing, run down to your favourite bookshop (you don’t have time to wait for an Amazon delivery) and pick some up. It don’t matter which book you grab, they’re all fucking amazing.

If you find you don’t like Cormac McCarthy’s writing, you can fuck off. Seriously. Go away. I mean, I know he’s (for the most part) melancholic and some of his books make you want to vomit with fear and panic as you consider the enormity that is the injustice of life, but that’s the point. At the heart of his writing are two themes – life and death, and he does them oh so well. As Public School Intelligentsia says “That motherfucker Cormac knows what the abyss is and he will straight up fist fuck you with it”

But this is a post about a movie – a movie based on a Cormac McCarthy book, but a movie nonetheless. The last movie to be based on one of his novels was the Coen brothers directed “No Country for Old Men”. Now, you may have watched that and thought to yourself “oh yes, yet another work of brilliance by the Coens” but know this, that was one of the most faithful adaptations of a novel you will ever see. The brilliance – all Cormac’s. Well… maybe a bit of it was a result of the Coens. The shitty bits most definitely belonged to them.

The latest McCathy novel to be adapted is The Road, probably his bleakest book ever. A dystopian nightmare based on a tale of futility, it follows the struggle for survival by a father and son in post-apocalyptic America. It’s a scary read that’ll haunt your dreams and lead to massive existential crises, but you won’t want to put it down. Hell, even Oprah loved it and there ain’t much in the way of taste overlap between Oprah and myself. It’s that good.

On paper this movie sounds good, John Hillcoat (The Proposition) directing and Viggo Mortensen, and Guy Pearce in the lead male roles. The stills look like they’re staying true to the book’s tone as well. This is going to be one film worth keeping an eye out.

Update: Firstshowing.net have some more pics AND check it out – The Wire’s Omar Little himself (otherwise known as Michael K. Williams) is also in the cast. Check the pics after the jump

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