Coppola, Salles 'On the Road' with Kerouac novel

LOS ANGELES - After a tortuous trek, Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" is coming to the big screen courtesy of Francis Ford Coppola and the Brazilian director of "The Motorcycle Diaries."

Coppola's American Zoetrope production company has owned the film rights to the novel since 1979. According to Coppola, the novel has had many suitors over the years.

"The book is inherently difficult to adapt to the screen, and we've never quite found the right combination of director and writer to do it justice until now," said Coppola, who will serve as an executive producer.

That "right combination" is director Walter Salles and screenwriter Jose Rivera. They previously collaborated on "The Motorcycle Diaries," the 2004 film recounting the political awakening of Latin American guerrilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Salles just released his English-language debut "Dark Water," starring Jennifer Connelly.

"On the Road," published in 1957, played a role in giving rise to the Beat movement. It is narrated by Kerouac's thinly veiled alter ego Sal Paradise, who gets inspired to hit the road and see America. The story follows his ups and downs as he hitchhikes, hops trains, meets other travelers, struggles for meals and explores the themes of freedom and longing.

"'On the Road' is a seminal book that gave voice to a whole generation - capturing its hunger for experience, unwillingness to accept imposed truths and dissatisfaction with the status quo," Salles said. "It is as modern today as it was four decades ago."

Casting and production is expected to begin in 2006.

- REUTERS/HOLLYWOOD REPORTER