'Twilight' star Kristen Stewart to venture 'On the Road'

Image Credit: Wild1/PR PhotosAfter The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is released in late June, Kristen Stewart will be heading out on the road — literally. The actress has signed on for Walter Salles' movie adaptation of Jack Kerouac's landmark novel On the Road, which is scheduled to begin shooting this August, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Stewart will play Mary Lou, the on-and-off wife of Dean Moriarty (who was famously based on Beat Generation icon Neal Cassady). Garrett Hedlund (Friday Night Lights, TRON Legacy) will play Moriarty, while Sam Riley (Control) will take on the role of Kerouac's autobiographical surrogate, Sal Paradise. Salles will be reuniting with his The Motorcycle Diaries (and Oscar-nominated) screenwriter Jose Rivera.

PopWatchers, what do you make this casting news? Will Kristen Stewart will be at home in Kerouac's 1950s Beat Generation? Will this be a natural evolution from her character, Tracy, in Sean Penn's similarly themed Into the Wild? And will Twihards, who haven't really supported Stewart's non-Twilight ventures, embrace this role? The high-school Twihards should have at least read On the Road by now, right?

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