SAN FRANCISCO – To meet Kristen Stewart is to want to defend her.
A young-looking 22 , she's practically still a kid. Her features appear even more delicate than they do on screen, and she's devoid of swagger, despite the black leather jacket she wears for an interview about "On the Road." The film adapts the classic 1957 Jack Kerouac novel tracking the thrills- and truth-seeking experiences of Kerouac and his postwar Beat generation nonconformist pals.
Stewart is enthusiastic, conscientious even, in discussing her character, Marylou – fictional stand-in for Lu Anne Henderson, teenage wife of Kerouac's muse, Neal Cassady – in "On the Road," which today starts a three-day run at Sacramento's Crest Theatre and is available on video on demand.