‘On the Road’ Gets US Home with IFC Films

EXCLUSIVE: AMC Networks has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to ON THE ROAD, to be released jointly by the company’s film distribution labels IFC Films and Sundance Selects sometime this fall. Walter Salles’ adaptation of the Beat Generation tome by Jack Kerouac will world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, which begins next week. AMC Networks, which owns IFC and Sundance Selects, is said to have acquired the title in a low seven-figures deal. Multiple people who have seen the film agreed that it contains awards-caliber performances and cinematography, but add that its two-hours-plus length and nebulous narrative will make it a challenge to market to mainstream auds. But ON THE ROAD will unspool with more than one built-in fanbase: Fans of Kerouac’s stream-of-consciousness road trip tale, written in 1951 and published in 1957, will be eager to check out its first-ever bigscreen adaptation. And another factor at the box office will be fervent TWILIGHT devotees, who have been constantly buzzing about her role as Mary Lou since the project was announced two years ago almost to the day. Other cast includes TRON: LEGACY star Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarty;Kirsten Dunst as Camille; and Sam Riley as Kerouac’s alter ego, Sal Paradise. Amy Adams, Elisabeth Moss and Viggo Mortensen co-star. -Josh L. Dickey

via|strictlyrobsten