Roasted Baby on Spit Was 'Too Much' for 'Road' Director

By Bryan Alexander Posted Nov 25th 2009 04:58PM

Readers of Cormac McCarthy's best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'The Road' remember it well -- the scene where the Man discovers a headless baby roasting on a spit, left by a fleeing bunch of cannibals. It's kind of a hard one to forget. But eat your Thanksgiving turkey without fear of losing it in the critically-lauded movie, as director John Hillcoat took that scene out of the final cut of the movie, which opens this weekend. Read Why After the Jump!

Watch a Trailer for 'The Road'

Hillcoat says that in the beginning of the filming process, keeping the baby scene was something he insisted on. "That was something I was fighting for," he said during a recent press junket.

"I said 'We cannot shy away from it,'" he says. But after winning the fight and shooting the scene, he did a complete reversal. "I ended up fighting, saying 'We have to get rid of this scene,'" says Hillcoat.

It wasn't the sensational aspects of the visual that got him to change his mind, though. "We didn't film it like a big close-up, sizzling baby," says Hillcoat. "We tried to do it in a restrained way."

But the image lost the impact that McCarthy's words had, describing the terrifying picture meant to highlight the depths of human depravity. "When you hear about it, it's chilling. It's like the best horror movies are not when the monsters are upfront," says Hillcoat. "In your head it had a different, real impact. When you see it (onscreen), it was so literal and too much."

Something to be thankful for sure for the weak of stomach. Hillcoat says the story depicting a time of canned food, roving cannibals and the end of the world is actually appropriately timed. "The film is all about giving thanks for what we have," he says. "There's no better time than Thanksgiving. Focusing on what really matters."

"It's not a summer movie," he adds. "Let's face it."

Moviefone's Q&A With Viggo Mortensen

Tags: Cormac McCarthy, CormacMccarthy, the road, TheRoad, Viggo Mortensen, ViggoMortensen

Comments

(24)

Thursday 26 November

By Heidi

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While the "The Road" novel was one of the best works of fiction I have read, it was also one of the most absolutely depressing books I have ever read. But PLEASE tell me (mcCormack never does) what caused the apocolypse describes with such horror in the book.

By brran

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It is left vague on purpose. But one theory is that it is environmental destruction, which explains the events in the book and movie -- the earhquakes, etc

Saturday 28 November

By ironage002

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What caused the apocolypse? Eight years of a Barack Obama presidency

By Jonathan

Posted by ironage002: "What caused the apocolypse? Eight years of a Barack Obama presidency"

ITSA MOVIE! Forget your political views!! This has nothing to do with it!

By Mary

Who can possibly forget that scene from the movie! Kind of relieved it's not in the book.

Naturally I meant to say, glad it's not in the movie, but scarred from the book. Need coffee.

By G

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MMMmmmmmmm, babies! Gooooood eatin' :)

Sunday 29 November

By Cat

You're disgusting, regardless of how funny you're so miserably failing to be.

By Kara

What is wrong with you people and your dead baby jokes? I'm sorry, but that's just wrong and SICK. Take it from a mother of three, I don't find the humor in the death of children.

By sherry

can't wait until i see this movie.it has a little bit of Pennsylvania in it.

By Stacey

ironage002 - The apocolypse was probably caused by our attempts to recover from the eight years of George Bush's presidency.

By mintrubble71

What's easier to unload- a truck full of bowling balls or a truck full of dead babies? Dead babies because you can use a pitch-fork.

By jeterlv

someone should definitely stick a pitchfork in you jerk!

By Evelyn

I really doubt that cannibalism was ever prevalent in ANY country or culture. It is a natural instinct to love and protect your child. Columbus perpetrated the myth that the Carib people of the Caribbean were cannibals because Queen Isabella said it was okay to kill and/or enslave 'bad' people, but not the good ones - so they made all the indigenous people out to be bad and it just wasn't true. Portraying cannibalism in a movie for entertainment is just sick, demented and disgusting.

By Jean Bradford

11/29/09
Yes cannibalism did take place in ancient South
American indian culture and parts of Africa. The
Aztecs and the Olmecs did cannibalize, and today
right under your nose, eastern Africans are hunting,dismembering and eating the flesh of albino African people because it is believed that they have occultic powers. Parts of their bodies are also being sold for good-luck charms. This news was on the internet just 2-3 days ago.

By upurs

well heck..whats so bad about that?...we always roast babies..the orphanage throws them in the dumpster and we get the freshest ones..and some beer go down the river and have a barbeque...delicious..!..play guitars blast the stereo and have a real good time..!

By LasVegasX

Just hearing it makes me uneasy. I felt just as uneasy when I read about the great famine in China. It made me uneasy because I read that parents took their kids to the butcher shop. I'm sure you can tell where I am going with this. Those selfish parents should of taken themselves to the butcher shop to feed their kids, instead of the other way around.

and a time to be thankful for what we have...!...WHAT DO WE HAVE LEFT?...THE DIPLOMATS AND THE RICH HAVE TAKEN IT ALL..!...my god man ,look around..and THESE RICH B*STARDS AIN'T DONE WITH US YET..!...if you think roasting babies is low..wait till it happens and and this will simply be what it is...A CHEAP HOLLYWOOD MOVIE..!