I don’t tire of writing casting announcements for THE ROAD, even as I grow more and more confused by them. Just a day after Jared wrote about Robert Duvall maybe joining the cast, IGN is breaking the news that supreme badass Michael K. Williams – better known as Omar Little in t.v.’s best show THE WIRE – has joined the growing ensemble, which includes Viggo Mortensen, Guy Pearce, Chalize Theron, and Kodi Smit-Mcphee.
What confuses me so? The fact that the book really only has two characters, a father and son, to be played by Mortensen and Smit-McPhee. While the two wanderers encounter a few scavengers during their walk down “the road,” there isn’t necessarily any distinct characters that scream “Robert Duvall!” or “Guy Pearce!” So obviously Joe Penhall’s screenplay is expanding on the bare-bones (but still brilliant) novel.
No matter, this is one of my most anticipated flicks of the year. Williams, so memorable as a ruthless-yet-ethical hoodlum on THE WIRE should fit into the post-apocalyptic world of THE ROAD just fine: a distinguishing characteristic of the actor is a long scar the runs down most of his face – so perhaps the character he plays has had a dust-up or two with one of the cannibalistic hordes that plague the film’s landscape… We’ll have to wait until this fall to find out.
Another reason to see the film… Charllize…
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