"HOLLYWOOD REPORTER" DETAILS "HOW 'ON THE ROAD' SLASHED KRISTEN STEWART'S $20 MILLION PAYCHECK AND FINALLY MADE IT TO SCREEN"
Bringing the novel "On The Road" to life has not been an easy feat. Jack Kerouac himself tried getting it sold to become a movie in 1957. A new article from the "Hollywood Reporter" gives a great insight on the history of how Walter Salles finally brought this classic novel to the big screen.
Here are some excerpts from the article. Please read the full article on Hollywood Reporter.
"We were about to be greenlit when the American financial system imploded," says the director. French financier Pathe wanted to drastically cut the $35 million budget for his adaptation of Kerouac's generation-defining novel.
Talks commenced, and exactly two years ago at Cannes, Salles got his greenlight. But that "yes" didn't make it easy. It took herculean effort to reduce the budget to the mid-$20 million range, the minimum Salles thought would work.
Then he had to persuade the cast he'd selected in 2007 to stay on board.
For the role of Sale and Dean's free-spirited companion, Marylou, Salles had found little-known actress Kristen Stewart through Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
"Look no further,' "Salles remembers the Babel director telling him. "'I've just seen the first cut of Sean Penn's "Into the Wild", and there's this 16-year-old girl you'll fall in love with,"' But once she became a star of the blockbuster Twilight franchise, much maneuvering was required to accommodate her schedule. It was critical that filming on "Road" end before October 2010, when shooting needed to start on "Breaking Dawn -- Parts 1 and 2". To Salles' relief, Stewart remained committed to the role for which she received about one-hundredth of her $20 million salary for "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2".
Stewart's fame also required special care. "Wherever Kristen went, the blogosphere lit up with the specifics of her movements," adds Yeldham. Her topless scenes with Riley were shot on a closely guarded set to avoid paparazzi and fans.
The pressure of doing the scenes made Riley "sick with anxiety" -- but not Stewart. "I was so shocked at being able to do it, " she says. "I didn't feel naked."Photo courtesy of Hollywood Reporter.
Link to the entire article can be found here.
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