I saw Walter Salles‘ adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road at Cannes earlier this year (read my review here). I didn’t hate it, though I did call it “tedious” while at the same time swooning over “Eric Gautier‘s rich, smoke-filled cinematography” as it captured the imagery of the era, but none of the feeling. Ultimately, not having read Kerouac’s Beat Generation novel, I drummed up my own interpretation of the film in an attempt to achieve a larger interest in what is really just an aimless and wandering narrative.
Now, it seems the version of the film I saw no longer exists.
IndieWire had a chat with Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects and IFC Films, who told the site Salles has cut upwards of 15 minutes form the film and added a bit as well:
“The response at Cannes was that some people loved it and some people were respectful of it, like some people loved the book. And Walter took a lot of that to heart. He’s gone back, and we’re unveiling a new cut in Toronto, which is about 15 minutes shorter. It’s a little over two hours now. He’s added certain things that weren’t in the cut that was in Cannes… He has been in New York and Rio and L.A. working on it the past couple of months, and it’s going to be very wet when it gets to Toronto. We’re locked, but they’re finishing the mix up right now. We’re very, very excited about it.”
The version I saw clocked in at 137 minutes and I’m curious as to what has changed and what has been added. Snipping 15 minutes is rather significant and could make the film play quite differently, especially for someone such as myself that had definite problems with how repetitive it all was.
Unfortunately, I may have to wait to see this new cut when Sundance Selects releases the film on December 21 as my schedule in Toronto is packed and the likelihood of me watching a film I’ve already seen (even if it is a new cut) isn’t good with so many films I haven’t seen yet to be screened.
I do have to wonder, though, did Salles leave the scene with a topless Kristen Stewart riding shotgun in-between Garret Hedlund and Sam Riley as they drive down the street with her giving them each a handjob at the same time? I mean, in the grand scheme of things you can’t cut that out… right?
You can read my full review of the Cannes cut of the film here.
