Big Sur Movie
“…all over America high school and college kids thinking ‘Jack Kerouac is 26 years old and on the road all the time hitch hiking’
…while there I am almost 40 years old, bored and jaded…”
Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur is an ominous read. Set against the backdrop of one of America’s most stunningly beautiful places, Kerouac chronicles with excruciating clarity the beginning of his own untimely demise, ground down between the reciprocating forces of alcoholism and depression. Director Michael Polish (Northfork, The Astronaut Farmer) captures the ravages of Kerouac’s psyche in this, his latest effort, with a breathtaking beauty that will more than satisfy fans of his previous work.
| Jean-Marc Barr | Jack Kerouac |
| Josh Lucas | Neal Cassady |
| Radha Mitchell | Carolyn Cassady |
| Anthony Edwards | Lawrence Ferlinghetti |
| Stana Katic | Lenore Kandel |
| Balthazar Getty | Michael McClure |
| Kate Bosworth | Willamine “Billie” Dabney |
| Henry Thomas | Philip Whalen |
| Patrick Fischler | Lew Welch |
| Jason W. Wong | Victor Wong |
Big Sur Film Review - by Jerry Cimino I was meeting with movie director Michael Polish on a long, sprawling road called Highway One, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The road had been absolutely devoid of automobile traffic for the previous thirty minutes. That never happens in real life, and I found that warped reality to be a little unnerving. All that could be heard was the sound of the Pacific as Polish’s crew set up the shot where Jack Kerouac was attempting to hitchhike without much success up to San Francisco. The California Highway Patrol had stopped all traffic along the Coastal Highway so the director could get his shot for his upcoming film Big Sur, which is based on Kerouac’s novel of the same name. But it was what Polish said to me at that precise moment that was even more unnerving than the empty road I was witnessing along that great ocean highway. “Eighty-five percent of Big Sur will be voiceover narration.” Did I just hear him right? I wondered. I tried not to let my face show my surprise. I’m sure I said something like, “Really?” as my mind instantly started sorting through every movie I’d ever seen and tried to remember which, if any, were 85% voiceover. I tried to give Michael Polish the benefit of the doubt. He makes movies. You don’t. And then I tried to rise above it all. Allow the filmmaker his vision. But deep down I … Read more »
Interview with Big Sur‘s Jean-Marc Barr - Niya Suddarth, media correspondent for the Beat Museum, interviews actor Jean-Marc Barr about his upcoming film, Big Sur, in which he plays Mr. Jack Kerouac. The interview takes place during the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah, 2013. Production by: Visual Creativ Interview With Jean-Marc Barr “BIG SUR” from Visual Creativ. on Vimeo. Some stills from the interview:
Official Trailer: Big Sur - Directed by Michael PolishStarring: Jean-Marc Barr as Jack Duluoz Kate Bosworth as Billie Radha Mitchell as Carolyn Cassady Josh Lucas as Neal Cassady More info at Internet Movie Database
Big Sur Set – “Base Camp”, Part 2 - After filming the Kerouac hitchhiking scene along Highway 1 near Bixby Canyon, I was invited to join the cast and crew for a late lunch around 2pm. Shuttle buses and cars caravanned 30-40 people back to Bixby Canyon Bridge and then deep into Bixby Canyon itself. I was in a car with three of the producers. It was interesting to get their take on exactly what producers do. Probably the most interesting thing I learned is that one extra take of the hitchhiking scene was an expensive decision, as it took us into the lunch hour, and certain union contracts dictate extra pay when that happens. These are things we never know about from simply watching a movie, but obviously they’re decisions that affect the bottom line. I’ve been to Bixby Canyon many times over the years (click here to read the report of John Allen Cassady, Steve Edington and myself making the trek back in 2005), but I have never been so deep into the east side of Bixby. After ten minutes deep into the woods along a dirt road with nothing but hills and tall trees, I was flabbergasted when we crossed over a bridge into a clearing where we were met by 20 to 30 huge white trucks. This was Base Camp for the Big Sur production. Electrical trucks, costume trucks, RVs for the actors to rest, trucks with kitchens in them, trucks with generators, trucks, trucks, … Read more »
A Day on the Set of Big Sur, Part 1 - by Jerry Cimino And then there were two. As a friend of mine put it most succinctly a few weeks ago, “I’ve been waiting fifty years for a new film adaptation of one of Kerouac’s books, and now we’ve got two of them coming one on the heels of the other.” Truer words were never spoken. Those of us who are die hard fans had to suffer through the knowing that the only Kerouac novel that had ever been adapted to the silver screen was The Subterraneans. Don’t go looking for it. It’s bad, trust me. So bad, it’s never legitimately been released to either VHS or DVD. So bad it’s why some say old Jack drank himself to death. That last clever aside may not be far off the mark. And it segues perfectly into the news about the second Kerouac novel to wrap filming and go into post-production this year. Big Sur is the story of Kerouac’s descent into full-blown alcoholism complete with the DT’s (delirium tremens) which led to his eventual demise. The timeline fits perfectly: With On the Road, Kerouac becomes famous in 1957. Declared the ‘King of the Beatniks’ soon after, The Subterraneans is released as a film 1960 (major plot line: Jack’s love affair with a black woman—Mardou Fox—changed to a French woman in the film – that was enough of a leap for 1960 US audiences). Kerouac’s Big Sur adventures take place in … Read more »