Adolescent fantasy object Kristen Stewart, made a starlet in recent years by the Twilight franchise, may seem a surprise choice for Cassady's wandering lover Marylou, but Yeldham points out Stewart came on board well before she was catapulted into the Hollywood stratosphere. Her subsequent success "became a real driver for us, to be able to put the financing together", she says. "Her dedication to this was really important to our ability to get the film made."

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The quest for authenticity gained heightened intensity once the cast came together; Rivera tells of a "beatnik boot camp" Salles conducted for several weeks in Montreal. "He got an apartment building, and everyone in the cast lived there," the writer says. "He hired a cook to cook for everybody, and for several weeks had different people who were experts in the beat culture come and talk to the cast. So they all lived together, they ate together, they took dancing lessons together, they watched movies together, they listened to jazz records together, they listened to lectures together.

"I was there early on, so I worked on the script with the cast, we played games, we got drunk together; it was a real bonding situation, and the growing friendship between Sam and Garrett and Tom really began there - and also Kristen, who was just one of the boys after a while. Really that all just started there and kept on going."

Source | Via