ROTTEN TOMATOES: Viggo Mortensen to Walk The Road?

Viggo Mortensen to Walk The Road?

by Jeff Giles | September 13, 2007

The film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer-winning, Oprah-certified novel, The Road, may have found its star.

After over four decades as a professional writer, McCarthy is suddenly hot in Hollywood. Though Billy Bob Thornton's 2000 adaptation of All the Pretty Horses was regarded as a sort of noble disappointment, advance praise for the Coen brothers' adaptation of McCarthy's No Country for Old Men has been plentiful -- and with The Road in development, the author's cinematic hot streak seems likely to continue.

The story centers on the travels of a father and his young son as they struggle across a bleak post-apocalyptic landscape, trying to reach the coast and avoid their fellow survivors (for reasons which soon become obvious). John Hillcoat has been set to direct Joe Penhall's script; now, from MTV Movies, comes word that Viggo Mortensen is in talks to star. As Mortensen tells it:

"There's a book called 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy. They're going to make a movie of that and the people making [it] have expressed interest [in me]. Visually, it's going to be a very beautiful movie. It's a very good story...It's mainly about a father and a boy. It's a post-apocalyptic scenario, a wasteland that they're trying to get through and not be killed by the few remaining packs of marauding humans. They're trying to get to the coast and find someplace safe and find people who are not crazy criminals or cannibals."

Mortensen can currently be seen with Naomi Watts in David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises.

Source: MTV Movies

Related Items

Movie:	All the Pretty Horses
	No Country for Old Men
Celeb:	Viggo Mortensen
	Joe Penhall
	John Hillcoat

(1-19 of 19 posts) | Reply

cullingsong writes:
on Sep 13 2007 06:02 AM

i'm reading the road now, and i'm almost finished. i'm so stoked the "powers that be" are considering him -- he'd be perfect in this role.

(Reply to this)

Jesus McNasty writes:
on Sep 13 2007 06:43 AM

Know nothing about the book.
Know nothing about the author.
But Viggo? I'm there.

(Reply to this)

dahluzz writes:
on Sep 13 2007 06:53 AM

'no country for old men' looks baller

(Reply to this)

nihilisteyes writes:
on Sep 13 2007 07:34 AM

now how about a "Blood Meridian"?

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A Lapse In Reason writes:
on Sep 13 2007 07:35 AM

The book is amazing i recomend it to anyone who hasn't read any of McCarthy. Also No Country For Old Men looks azmazing havn't read the book yet but it's on my list.

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crushin russian writes:
on Sep 13 2007 08:00 AM

I purchased The Road over the summer and read a third of it. Unfortunately, college has been taking up all my time and I haven't had a chance to look at it since. It's great that his novels are getting so much attention now.

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FireflyFan4evr writes:
on Sep 13 2007 09:33 AM

In reply to this comment (#1120168)
I'll gladly adapt Blood Meridian. Either that or Child of God. There's no way Child of God is going to get past the MPAA with anything less than a NC-17.

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Absurdity writes:
on Sep 13 2007 09:46 AM

The oprah book club label is a definete turn-off, as is the MTV movie label we have going here. I'll probably read the book eventually but I'll have to black out that stupid Oprah sticker.

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Bardego writes:
on Sep 13 2007 12:09 PM

Excellent novel, promising director (anyone ever seen The Proposition?), and a leading man who would fit the role perfectly is making me very interested in this project. Now the only real question is, who's going to play the boy?

(Reply to this)

FireflyFan4evr writes:
on Sep 13 2007 12:48 PM

In reply to this comment (#1120878)
The kid who plays Shane in the show "Weeds" should be in this film. He's one of the most talented child actors I've ever seen.

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unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Sep 13 2007 02:43 PM

Sounds pretty sweet from the description, plus with Viggo on board it would be something I really want to see. As is I really want to see No Country For Old Men.

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unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Sep 13 2007 02:44 PM

Eastern Promises looks pretty damn good to, so hopefully I'll be checking that out this weekend.

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The Biggest Lebowski writes:
on Sep 13 2007 03:12 PM

Hillcoat is the perfect director for the Road. Cant wait to see Cohens vision of No country. Already counting down the days.

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damvbat writes:
on Sep 13 2007 04:13 PM

Maybe I'll watch the road worrior agin

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GLADIATOR MONKEY writes:
on Sep 13 2007 05:38 PM

In reply to this comment (#1121570)
Damvbat,
Hurts doesn't it?

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ManofStee1 writes:
on Sep 13 2007 06:13 PM

How will the Road be made into a movie while still keeping kind of true to the source material? Half the book is just The Man and The Boy walking around, searching houses for food, or sleeping. Sure there's scenes where they have to hide from gangs of bikeresque-cannibal-slave driver-gangs, but not enough to make a movie. Should be interesting to see how this develops.

(Reply to this)

ManofStee1 writes:
on Sep 13 2007 06:14 PM

In reply to this comment (#1120168)
A Blood Meridian movie would be the best western ever made in the right hands. Hands down.

(Reply to this)

GLADIATOR MONKEY writes:
on Sep 13 2007 10:15 PM

In reply to this comment (#1121615)
ManofStee1,
You're absolutely correct in that Blood Meridian has the chance to be a truly amazing film. But like you said, it would only really succeed in the right hands. There really are very few directors that I can envision translating his novels to the screen. I'd personally love to see someone like Terence Malick take a shot at it, he has the right visual and tonal sense to make it work. Unfortunately, the last I heard was that maybe Ridley Scott was looking to direct.
The Road was a terribly weak novel for MacCarthy, but still has the potential to be a decent film. In fact it's so sparse in action and dialog that someone can really just sit back, and like Tarkovsky, let the visuals and what's NOT said tell the story.

(Reply to this)

romsy writes:
on Sep 14 2007 03:08 AM

Viggo is a very talented, and i loved John Hillcoat's work in The Proposition, this

project is deff looking up, and while i wait for it to get made i can watch No Country For

Old Men which looks great

(Reply to this)