FINALLY. We have the first trailer for John Hillcoat’s The Road. They’re playing up the action and intensity here. Don’t be fooled by the tone on display here, I’m sure this still is going to be faithful to Cormac McCarthy’s bleak and deliberately paced novel.

Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other. [Excerpt from Cormac McCarthy's Novel, The Road]

Plot Synopsis:

The Road tells the story of a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit McPhee) traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world. The film co-stars Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron, and Guy Pearce.

Watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo. The Road will hit theaters on October 16th, 2009.

[Source: First Showing, SlashFilm]

Viggo Mortenson, one of our generations most prolific actors may be stepping down from acting based on comments he made in an interview with the South African web site News24.com:

He mentioned that he’s

“taking measures to change that. No more movies. I haven’t said yes to one in over a year … there are other things I want to do. It’s not the right time.”

And recent offers were

“complete crap, all about product placement and marketing. I don’t need the money.”

Cinematical explains the increase in Viggo‘s work load that may be contributing to his recent comments:

His output in the last decade has been smaller, but the productions have been bigger and, since The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he’s had lead roles that must have been demanding (Hidalgo, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises). It couldn’t have been easy to make The Road, either. (See Elisabeth Rappe’s article in which he talks more about his recent projects.)

Personally, I hope he just takes a break, or lessens his work load.  Viggo Mortenson is one of my favorite actors to come along in recent years and with The Road coming to theaters soon, I doubt that will change.  Plus, with talks of an Eastern Promises sequel, hopefully Viggo takes a well needed vacation and takes only projects he is personally interested in.

[Source: Cinematical]

Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg are “in talks” about a sequel to the Russian gangster flick, Eastern Promises.  I love this movie and am really interested in following the Viggo Mortenson’s character, Nikolai.  If you haven’t seen Eastern Promises, you need to.

From /Film:

According to MTV, Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen will reteam with Steven Knight, the screenwriter; Paul Webster, the producer; and Focus Features. The current plan is for them to sit down together and discuss the way forward, though Cronenberg says he has “some very strong ideas” of his own about where the story should go.

[Source: Slashfilm, MTV]