NEED TO KNOW
Matt Dillon and Josh Brolin help examine the legacy of On The Road author Jack Kerouac in the trailer for the new documentary Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation
The documentary “interweaves stories of modern-day ‘on-the-roaders’ who share connections to Kerouac’s life, alongside those [who were] influenced by him or knew and loved him,” according to an official synopsis
Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation releases in select theaters Aug. 1
Matt Dillon and Josh Brolin are among a number of celebrities paying tribute to Jack Kerouac in a new documentary.
On Tuesday, July 8, Universal debuted the trailer for its new documentary Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation, which examines the life and work of 20th-century literary icon Kerouac and the impact of his his 1957 novel On The Road.
The trailer finds celebrities like Dillon and Brolin examining how reading On The Road affected their lives, while Michael Imperioli provides narration of moments from Kerouac’s seminal work. Comedian and television host W. Kamau Bell, singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant (whose former band 10,000 Maniacs recorded a song called “Hey Jack Kerouac” for their 1987 album In My Tribe), scholar Ann Charters, composer David Amram and novelists Jay McInerney and Joyce Johnston — the latter of whom had a romantic relationship with Kerouac in the 1950s — all appear in the documentary. A number of working-class Americans are also interviewed throughout as a means of exploring how On The Road‘s themes relate to modern times.
“The film interweaves stories of modern-day ‘on-the-roaders’ who share connections to Kerouac’s life, alongside those [who were] influenced by him or knew and loved him,” reads an official synopsis for the movie.
“On the Road remains as relevant today as it was in the 1950s, but both the book and Kerouac himself have never been explored in this way before,” the synopsis adds. “While based on the American road, On the Road inspired people globally to get out of where they are and engage in the world around them. In an era defined by screens and constant connectivity we can all still learn from the book and Kerouac’s journey, and what it means to engage in real time with the path we’re on.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Universal Documentaries
Matt Dillon in ‘Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation’
The new documentary is directed by Ebs Burnough, a former White House staffer and senior advisor to Michelle Obama who made his directorial debut in 2019 with the documentary The Capote Tapes.
Kerouac’s On The Road helped give way to the Beat Generation and the Beatnik literary and cultural movements in the late 1950s and inspired counterculture movements through the rest of the 20th century. The author himself died in 1969 at 47.
Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation releases in select theaters Aug. 1.
Read the original article on People
