'On The Road' Trailer: Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, And Kristen Stewart Are The Mad Ones

We've already seen a couple of trailers for Walter Salles' adaptation of Jack Kerouac's Beat classic On the Road, but the latest to hit may be the most arresting one yet. Thanks to sharp editing and a relentless pounding drumbeat, it does a fairly good job of capturing the heady exuberance of being young and carefree, hopped up on drugs, and in pursuit of the next awesome thing.

Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, and Kristen Stewart star as the central trio of Dean Moriarty, Sal Paradise, and Marylou as they journey across America, crossing paths with all manner of people along the way. The star-studded supporting cast includes Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Tom Sturridge, Steve Buscemi, Elisabeth Moss, Alice Braga, and Terrence Howard. Check out the video after the jump.

Reviews from Cannes were mixed, though it sounds like Salles isn't to blame for all the film's flaws. The meandering, ultra-literary On the Road has had a reputation for being unfilmable for good reason. Most critics seemed to agree that Salles did as well as anyone could've expected, as there's only so much he could've done to translate the tale without changing it entirely. On the other hand, fans may argue that that raises the question of why he even tried.

On the Road gets a limited U.S. release starting December 21.

Synopsis:

After his father's death in the late 1940s, 24-year-old aspiring writer Sal Paradise meets 20-year-old ex-jailbird Dan Moriarty and his beautiful wife Marylou in New York. Dan is extremely charming and has a flexible moral code, and is as fascinated by Sal's obsession with writing as Sal is by the unfettered freedom of his lifestyle. The two men spend intense nights of drinking, dreaming of another world, and forming a friendship that will take them on a trip across America. After staying at Bull Lee?s place in Louisiana, Sal, Dean, and Marylou continue traveling – naked and utterly enjoying themselves.