Coppola's 'Road' warrior

Salles, Rivera adapt Kerouac

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

Salles

Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola may finally be ready to hit the highway with a long-promised film based on Jack Kerouac's Beat classic "On the Road," with Walter Salles set to direct and Jose Rivera penning the script.

Pic is now in development at Focus Features, which is partnering with Coppola's American Zoetrope.

Kerouac's thinly fictionalized autobiography -- to which Coppola secured the film rights nearly four decades ago -- recounts his defining hitchhiking journey across the U.S. with Neal Cassady.

Kerouac project and Salles' acclaimed "Motorcycle Diaries" share much in common -- both are offbeat 1950s travelogues.

Rivera wrote the screenplay for 2004's "Diaries," the story of Ernesto "Che" Guevera's travels through South America as a young man.

"Diaries" became one of the highest-grossing Spanish-language films at the U.S. box office, and Focus, which distributed in the U.S., is banking that auds will show the same appetite for "On the Road."

Coppola has tried to jump-start the project several times over the years, with various screenwriters brought on to try their hand at writing a script that would earn Coppola's approval -- apparently with no success.