Will ‘On the Road’ Ever Be Made Into a Movie?

Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 09.05.07 | 4:39 PM ET

Exactly two years ago today, we noted that actor Billy Crudup had been cast to star in a movie version of “On the Road.” The producer would be Francis Ford Coppola, who has owned the movie rights for decades. It was to be directed by Walter Salles of “The Motorcycle Diaries” fame and production was to begin in 2006. So what happened? Where’s the film now? An Aug. 17 Cincinnati Enquirer piece claims production on a Salles-directed “On the Road” film is set to begin next year, and that the cast has not been announced. According to the paper, “Scouts for American Zoetrope, Coppola’s production company, have visited Cincinnati and photographed potential location sites for the movie.”

The Internet Movie Database points to a 2009 release date. Rumors abound online that Kirsten Dunst has been cast to play Carolyn Cassady.

Only time will tell whether the film finally gets made. A Wikipedia page devoted to a film version of the book recounts a number of stops and starts over the years, which doesn’t exactly instill great hope.

“On the Road” seems to be a particularly difficult novel to translate to the big screen. Remarked Lawrence Farlinghetti in Slate this week: “‘On the Road’ is not a conventional novel. It’s why they’re having such a hard time making a film of it. About four different script writers [Francis Ford] Coppola paid have been rejected because they are trying to make a film with a plot. It doesn’t have a plot. It was a road novel—a picaresque, like Don Quixote.”

The afformentioned Carolyn Cassady, meanwhle, is upbeat about the film. In a sidebar to the Enquirer story, Neal Cassady’s second wife, now 84 and residing in England, reflects on the novel and the character based on her and says:

“I’m thrilled Walter Salles isn’t an American and that he wants a totally unknown cast, so I don’t have to worry about Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. Everyone just wants Jack’s wild side, his hedonistic side. He was so much more than that. His last five years he was miserable. I get to arguing with Francis about it sometimes. I say everybody’s going to the movie anyway, no matter what you do, so do it right.”