Jack Kerouac
by Levi Asher Saturday, July 23, 1994 02:01 pm

Jack Kerouac was born Jean-Louis Kerouac, a French-Canadian child on March 12, 1922 in working-class Lowell, Massachusetts. Ti Jean spoke a local dialect of French called joual before he learned English. The youngest of three children, he was heartbroken when his older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever at the age of nine.
Ti Jean was an intense and serious child, devoted to Memere (his mother) and constantly forming important friendships with other boys, as he would continue to do throughout his life. He was driven to create stories from a young age, inspired first by the mysterious radio show 'The Shadow,' and later by the fervid novels of Thomas Wolfe, the writer he would model himself after ...
Ti Jean was an intense and serious child, devoted to Memere (his mother) and constantly forming important friendships with other boys, as he would continue to do throughout his life. He was driven to create stories from a young age, inspired first by the mysterious radio show 'The Shadow,' and later by the fervid novels of Thomas Wolfe, the writer he would model himself after ...
I sometimes wonder ...... if it's not better that it hasn't happened with On the Road. If it was done right like Henry & June say, then it'd be awesome, Levi.
That was a great movie, wasn't it? I don't know the name of that bald actor who played Henry Miller, but he sure nailed the role. Great all around. Well, I don't think the Kerouac movie could have flown under the commercial radar like that film did. I read a draft screenplay of the never-made Coppola version of On The Road (written by Michael Herr) and it was no Henry and June.
You can't blame Jack for tryingBy coincidence, I had approached Brando about playing me in a movie, should anyone ever make a movie about me. I zealously began putting on weight so the portrayal would be feasible. Alas, all that ever came out of this was that Marlon copied my use of white pancake makeup and mosquito netting for his role in Island of Dr. Moreau. You know I can't stand the sun and the insects. But I have no hard feelings. Like I told the Judge, I would have gotten out of Brando's swimming pool sooner had I known how much he valued his privacy. All he had to do is ask.
AngstI like your idea of Brando as Ray in BIG SUR. He could have personified Ray's anxiety and angst as he battled the D.T.'s perfectly.