On the Road to Marylou

We need to talk about On the Road like NOW. A lot of you aren’t very familiar with Kerouac so you don’t know what Kristen getting this role means or who the hell Marylou even is. Let CC help you friends. I know this book. I decided to put the snark away today to talk a little bit about Marylou with you guys. This means that I will be giving a general overview of her character in the book and using some direct quotes to facilitate in your understanding how fucking cool this really is.

I REPEAT: I WILL BE USING TEXT DIRECTLY FROM THE BOOK TO SPEAK ABOUT MARYLOU. I WILL SPOIL THE SHIT OUT OF MARYLOU’S CHARACTER.

LAST WARNING.

DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU. THIS WAS A SHITTON OF WARNINGS.

I grew up in a house where Kerouac was an encouraged read from a young age. My sister had every book (poems, stories and haikus) he’d ever written. When her taste in literature changed (as often times it does) I took the books.

When I was 17 and going into my senior year of High School I was on a Kerouac fix. Couldn’t get enough. My Kerouac enjoyment was surely complimented by the hazy dayz of high school, but nevertheless, he was my shtick. I was passionate about each novel, reading them cover to cover until the bindings began to split.

see? I wasn't exaggerating as often times I do.

Now that I’m older, I am able to recognize that Kerouac is not for everyone by any stretch of the imagination. My father cannot stand to pick up a book by him. He’s a literature elitist. He’s a book bully who bleeds crimson and only crimson. I am not above a book, which you can tell because I read Twilight. I hate when people think books are stupid without reading them. It’s like please keep your ignorant opinion to yourself unless you can actually partake in an intellectual conversation, thank you.

Fact: I love Kerouac.

I heard rumblings of Kristen getting this part before it was announced, so when I heard it was solidified I was able to jump with joy. But do you know what? I had to sit back and think who in the hell was Marylou? (I realize a lot of you who read the book had the same exact issue. Sal? Check. Dean? Duh. Marylou? WHO?!)

I quickly texted my sister because I couldn’t believe I didn’t know. "Listen I'm trying to remember who the hell Marylou is in On the Road because the book is going to be made into a movie and I don't know who she is! BTW that part went to Kristen."

Props. To. Kristen.

Now, I moved on Wednesday so everything in my life is in boxes in my car or storage. I left where I live (lived?)/go to school (went?) and headed to NYC to see my family and P. P works late and all the time. Thus is the life of these finance people. So last night I sat down and went through some boxes, and some of my Kerouac was staring me in the face.

I enjoy his poetry more. To each his own.

It was fate, pretty much. I dove back in headfirst.

After I finished rereading I had to do a dance. This role is awesome. AWESOME. IT IS FUCKING AWESOME. IT’S FAWSOME.

I’m going to give you a summary of on On the Road (in regards to Marylou's part) that is so brief I should be arrested. The story picks up as Sal is telling a tale of his travels... the entire time they are traveling on the road (clever title, eh?). Sal meets Dean who is married to Marylou. The two have a very volatile marriage, which is blatantly apparent from the beginning. They love hard and they fight hard. He and Marylou are filing for divorce. He has been cheating on Marylou for a while. Marylou and Dean continue to have sex as they are getting divorced

Marylou leaves and Dean gets married to his former mistress Camille. I cannot wait to see who gets that part. Camille and Dean live in San Francisco, and Dean leaves her (and his KIDS) to go on the road again, meeting up with Sal. Eventually Marylou comes back into the picture and Dean begins to cheat on his wife with his ex-wife. Shit gets crazy. Marylou is more prominent in this portion of the book, although her role is still small and she hardly ever speaks. If all of her mentions in the book were put together I’m not sure you’d even get two pages. I don't know if it will stay this way in the script or if they will try to write her in more.

[Reminder: the book is about Sal. Dean is simply a character that Sal travels with. There are tons of other characters, which is why I keep saying that everyone should still read the book. I am ONLY touching on Marylou's part and am doing the book the worst disservice in the history of man. I just wanted to give you guys some examples of Marylou’s character’s behavior and actions so you could be half as excited as I am.]

The first description of Marylou says,

“Marylou was a pretty blonde with immense ringlets of hair like a sea of golden tresses; she sat there on the edge of the couch with her hands hanging in her lap and her smoky blue country eyes fixed in a wide stare because she was in an evil gray New York pad that she’d heard about back West, and waiting like a longbodied emaciated Modigliani surrealist woman in a serious room. But, outside of being a sweet little girl, she was awfully dumb and capable of doing terrible things.”

Did you read that last line? Capable of doing terrible things. I love it. I LOVE IT. Yes, I even flove it.

She does drugs like the rest of them, but sometimes to an extreme.

“That night Marylou took everything in the books; she took tea, goofballs, Benny, liquor, and even asked Old Bull for a shot of M, which of course he didn’t give her; he did give her a martini. She was so saturated with elements of all kinds that she came to a standstill and stood goofy on the porch with me.”

Some of these drugs are legit hardcore. I had to google what the fuck a goofball was and I got the response "a pill containing a barbiturate or, sometimes, a stimulant drug, tranquilizer." Yikes!

Drugs play a minor role in Marylou's life as opposed to sex. All the time. Girl does NOT close up shop. She has sex with Dean while Sal is sleeping in the car. She has sex with multiple sailors later in the book. She wants to have sex with Sal while Dean watches.

“They had ten hours of wild lovemaking”

“Dean stood googing around with a towel, so did Marylou. Finally they started necking among the pots and pans; they withdrew to a dark corner in the pantry”

At one point Dean and Marylou get into an argument and they come out of the bedroom all beaten up. Remember when I said they love hard and fight hard? They defo do.

Remember how my sister’s text message said something about cold cream? This sparked my memory because I found this part of the book rather funny. Dean is driving and the sun is shining through the windshield. He tells Sal and Marylou to take their clothes off as they drive into the hot sun so they do.

“Marylou took out cold cream and applied it to us for kicks. Every now and then a big truck zoomed by; the driver in high cab caught a glimpse of a golden beauty sitting naked with two naked men; you could see them swerve a moment as they vanished in our rearview window.”

Holy hotness!! Could you imagine? Could you!?

Dean and Marylou go their separate ways again, and the next time they meet Marylou is married to a used-car dealer. Dean beats Marylou, breaking his hand on her face. He claims her eye wasn’t messed up and she laughed in his face as he hit her.

Marylou.

She’s damaged. She is fucked up. She gets screwed over. She’s sexually promiscuous. She has desires. But she’s not stupid. She realizes that Dean is mad (as in crazy) in every sense of the word and is saddened by this realization. Together they are a terrible combination. Every time I said ‘they went their separate ways’ above? It was because of a fight. They hurt each other over and over again.

It is for this very reason that I cannot WAIT to see how KStew plays Marylou. Perhaps Riley’s was a good foundation for this role. It will be intense. It will be challenging. It will be something incredible to see.

So…. Now…

oh.my.god.

Can we talk about how yummy Garrett Hedlund is? He will be playing Dean. HOLY HELL. That boy is absolutely delicious. I don’t want him for KStew. She doesn’t need him. She has her own sex on a stick. I WANT HIM FOR ME. ME ME ME ME ME. That is MY type of boy. Oh my gosh. Excuse me. I need to be alone for a second.

I’m sure she’s probably been linked to him already, right? Is she having his baby yet? Are they dating? Married? Did he buy her a piece of jewelry yet?

I’m pretty sure she’s got her personal life taken care of, so can this one be mine—PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? (Don’t worry MFH, you’re still my #1 but like... I can still look right?)

oh hi, Sal!

Sam Riley (who will be playing Sal) is attractive as well, but he's got nothing on my Garrett.

This movie is set to begin filming in August. Rumblings of filming taking place in New Orleans and Montreal came out yesterday... I'm down with that! As I mentioned, the book says that Marylou has blonde hair. Kristen was flipping beautiful as a blonde. Perhaps she shall dye her locks again?

Honest to God, how many ppl can go between hair colors and look that good?

Twihards run to New Moon companion, the last time Kristen Stewart had Bella Swan hair.

The good part of this is that she won’t have to wear a busted wig in Breaking Dawn. She will only have to dye it back to brown—but there is no reasoning with an unreasonable Twihard.

Anyhow, it has been said that this role was quite desirable to the ladies of Hollywood, and that KStew fought to get it. That is awesome. If some Hollywood floozy were to come in and play Marylou it would be entirely disingenuous. I like that it’s a small movie and not so IN YOUR FACE. When Kristen says she can only play roles she feels drawn to, she literally means it! I’m sure she’s gotten tons of scripts with the same superficial bullshit story that has been regurgitated millions of times, but she chose this one. It’s so important to realize how important this book was upon its release (and still today):

“[On the Road] epitomized to the world what became knows as “the Beat Generation” and made Kerouac one of the most controversial and best-known writers of his time.”

This movie has been floating around for so long, and has been trying to get on the ground for so many years. It’s got to be good. It would literally be a travesty if it went wrong. It will be good. Walter Salles directing? Yes. It will be okay.

"I am very much attached to a movie that has been trying to get made forever. Not that this is going to help it, but maybe I can just brag a little bit. I am super excited about it, too. I am about to play Marylou in On the Road. So that's a big deal."

Oh Kristen, it’s a huge fucking deal.

Because she’s going to play Marylou, KStew is better than you.

ps- I got this message in an e-mail from a reader and wanted to share:

"I was hoping you could maybe insert something into your blog as a favor to me. First, I am from Nashville, TN. Almost my entire family lives in Nashville. As you are probably aware, Nashville and a large swath of Tennessee was underwater following last weekend's storms. Please encourage the people who read your blog to give to the Red Cross for disaster relief, or to any other organizations trying to help the people there pull their lives back together. People have lost everything, and some still can't go home because their neighborhoods are still under several feet of water, a number of people are still unaccounted for, there's looting (although it hasn't been covered in the news, I've heard about it from a friend of mine) of the homes that were previously under water, and the serious possibility of water shortages as a water treatment facility has had to shut down. So, please encourage people to do what they can for the people down south who need the basics for survival right now as they start trying to rebuild their lives and their towns."

If you can give, please help. Here is a link to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

[A/N: I sincerely hope this wasn't confusing to you guys. I ignored the entire book and simply spoke about KStew's character. I hope these little tidbits got you excited. I’m so flipping excited. Are you excited? I cannot stress enough how little Marylou has to do with the story so I can assure you I did NOT ruin the book. Please go out and buy the book. Can I be honest? This is one of my least favorite Kerouac books. I love all Kerouac, but I didn’t love this one as much as the others. I reread it with a new appreciation and for a new purpose and I’m so amped. Grab yourself the book if you haven’t read it. Pick it up again if you have. Find a nice place this weekend and immerse yourself. Have a lovely weekend my friends, and we will be talking sooner rather than later! Much love!]