Above is a first look at the re-release book art for The Road, which enters movie theaters (and the Oscar fray) in just a few short weeks on November 25, 2009. The 2006 book by Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) was a bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner that followed the journey of a man and his son across the landscape of a postapocalyptic America.
It's now been adapted to movie form by director John Hillcoat (The Proposition), and debuted to much acclaim at this year's Venice International Film Festival (it's currently rated 89% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). Starring Viggo Mortensen and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee, the movie's been described as both "bleak" and "moving" and, per the cover art, was declared by Esquire magazine as "The Most Important Movie of the Year."
Is the hype justified? We'll soon find out. We do know The Weinstein Company had enough confidence in the project to bump their other awards contender Nine to late December to give this one a few more weeks to build momentum.
Here, we're just looking forward to seeing Viggo Mortensen sink his chops into a meaty role alongside young Smit-McPhee and Oscar winner Charlize Theron, who plays his wife in flashback (nice shot of her, too, on the book art).
