Earlier in our exclusive interview with director John Hillcoat, we discussed exactly what author Cormac McCarthy wanted put back into the film that was originally cut from John Hillcoat's translation. But strangely the writer had no issues with the missing scene from his novel where The Man and The Boy discover a baby being roasted over a fire. We found out just why, from the director...

People are asking why some of the cannibal scenes were cut from the film.

There were some definitely, that I wanted cut. I had to fight to cut them. And I was supported though. Because first of all, I fought like hell to make sure we had shot that stuff, and I got my way. Then I realized it didn't work, it was total overkill. It just made it redundant and didn't have any impact. Because once you go through the road game and the house, the cannibal house, you know about cannibalism. And the trees is the new element. Whereas if you go back to that, it's like going back to the start of the film again.

What was the reasoning for cutting the baby over the fire scene?

It also it all works in the book because it's in your head, when you visualize some of this stuff it just becomes too much. And it was overkill. Luckily, Cormac himself, he really understands how film works as a medium, how different it is. He didn't miss anything from the book other than four lines of dialogue... Just those four lines. Nothing else. He didn't miss any of it, he didn't even bring up the baby. He said, 'Oh, that's irrelevant.'

What did you think when you saw the first trailer for the film?

Well I was a little disappointed. I thought it was a little misleading. I would never put stock footage that isn't part of the film in something, like the trailer. But I also understand, from their point of view, what they were trying to do, which is give people context. Because their point was that most people haven't read the book that will come and see the movie. And in the film it's a very subtle, gradual thing that befalls [humanity], but it's never fully explained. So what they said is, that in when you have 30 seconds or a minute, this was their way of putting it into context for people. But it didn't work, they have a much better trailer now.

How do you walk the line of bleakness and hope that was in the book. It was a pretty bleak in some points, the book.

I never really saw it like that, for one. The heart and soul, the reason this book is now the most translated of modern time, apparently, is because of this love story between father and son. If it was just about that other stuff it wouldn't have struck that kind of chord. That's if you focus on the background scenery. I'm a little defensive about that. But sure, it's a projection of everyone's worst fear. The apocalypse has been around as an idea since ancient times.

It's very simple, it's humanity's worst fear. What is it? It's us dying, the world dying. And we saw what happened with the dinosaurs, so we don't want to join them, and that's understandable. But then I think, also, every individual has their own personal apocalypse, where your time comes. We're mortal beings, we have to check out. So I think in many ways it's just a projection of our fears. And it goes through different periods. In the 50s they were really freaked out about nuclear threats, so you had the mutant monsters that came out of radiation. A brilliant masterpiece of all apocalypse films is Dr. Strangelove. But again that came out of the whole nuclear situation, the Cold War. And you can see in ancient times, and the biblical apocalypse.

But that's also why it's not really about bleakness, it's about fear. And actually there's a morality tale about this. We see a man that we project on to, and we can see that his choices, under pressure, we see how he can, understandably, lose his humanity. And it's actually the boy that gives him back that humanity. So I'm with Cormac when he said that his was a book about human goodness and kindness.

Where do you think we are now with post-apocalyptic movies? What do you think the trend is now?

Well I mean the focus tends to be on the big event, so much so that there's no human dimension. I think that's all valid, I like to see spectacle, we all enjoy that. I like roller coaster rides, although I'm actually having trouble with them as I get older. But, there is thrills and adventure in The Road, but the focus as I say is more about this human experience. And really more, I love films where, what I love speaking in scifi, like I saw 2001 when I was 9 years old and I'll never forget I actually felt like I went into outer space - like I really felt like I was transported into this other world. And the more I watch films, the films that I love are those where you feel like you've gone to another place and that's what I love about scifi. When it's just a CGI fantasy or like a video game, that's when I kind of tune out of it. I don't feel like kind of, being transported.

So that's you comparing The Road to those other post-apocalyptic films coming out. Because we know the difference. But even when I was at the Book of Eli panel at Comic Con, people were asking, 'So how's this different from The Road?'

[Eyes widen] Well, ok, the big difference is also what we've tried to do is, well what I always try to do with genre, is find and make it fresh again, like something we've never seen. And ironically what we've never seen before is the real thing. And so that's why we shot at Mount St. Helens, the mountain blew up.

Careful — there are massive spoilers in the video. The Road is out November 25th.

We sat down with Hillcoat and talked about the end of the world, and translating a film into a movie. The director shared with us the only issue McCarthy had with his film, which Hillcoat promptly changed...

io9: How did you deal with what to cut and what to leave in The Road?

JH: Cormac himself, he really understands how film works as a medium, how different it is. He didn't miss anything from the book other than four lines of dialogue. And this is where it's very telling as to what the real story is. Because those four lines of dialogue, which we did shoot and put back in, is when the boy says, "What would you do if I died?" And the father says, '"I'd want to die too, so you could be with me - so I could be with you."

Which is a beautiful thing to say, and that's in the movie. But that's what his interest was always - the focus of these central characters going through this journey. And the more cannibal stuff, it just becomes a different movie.

So that was what he wanted put back into the movie?

Just those four lines. Nothing else. He didn't miss any of it... It's been great, because he could see the more you focus on that other stuff [post apocalyptic doom, explosions and cannibalism] the more unbalanced it becomes, and it becomes something else.

I know the purpose of theatrical trailers is to get everyone interested in the film, but I have a feeling this movie isn't the fast paced on the run from cannibals, fire storm, kaboom, pow! flick the trailer makes it out to be - and it shouldn't be. The story is, at its heart, about a man and a boy and holding on to their last shreds of hope while encountering the darkest sides of humanity. It is not an end of the world catastrophe flick that puts a father and son on a fast-paced adventure.

But from the first official review, it sounds like this trailer was always going to be a bit of a stretch, and that the movie is a solid translation of McCarthy's work from page to screen, minus Charlize Therons' character's extended involvement, which, to be fair, could be interesting when she's paired up with Viggo.

The Road will be released in theaters on October 16, 2009 .

We've heard that The Road was pushed back to this fall for many reasons, including being too depressing, and being primed for awards season.

Esquire Magazine is the first official outlet to screen and review the entire movie, and they can't say enough nice things about this awful movie. And of course, we mean "awful" in a the world is burned to a cinder, waters are poisoned, dirt is radiated, and there is nowhere to go post-apocalyptic way.

"It is a love story," Esquires Tom Chiarella eplains, "But to be clear, it's a love story about a father and a son hauling ass to keep from being eaten by small bands of flannel-shirted cannibals."

For those not familiar with the tale, the book follows a man and his boy as they trek across the wasteland that was our Earth. Heading to the coast, they have to protect themselves against dehydration, hypothermia, starvation, and cannibals looking for their next meal. Calling The Road bleak would be an understatement. And Esquire says the film fully lives up to the book:

...There was not a single stupid choice made in turning this book into this movie. No wrongheaded lyric tribute to the novel. No moment engineered simply to make you jump.

The article also reveals a first look at the new trailer for The Road, including explanations for what happened to Earth, with disaster clips and media blips. Which is taking pretty big liberties, since it sounds like the movie doesn't reference a reason for the tragedy, and neither does the novel. The director addressed this:

On the other side of the planet, at home in Australia, Hillcoat's been hearing about these trailers. "We're so conditioned by postapocalyptic films to be centered on a big event, and they become this high-concept thing. And here there's this total absence, this negation of explanation. We have to stay with that. So yeah. That's gonna be a challenge."

Hopefully the need to over-explain will be edited out of the final trailer... but probably not. Also, some of the imagery used in the film is from real-life disaster footage, which is quite brilliant yet even more terrifying than special effects:

"When they pass through a city, there's a shot of two ships sitting on a freeway that looks like a visual effect," Hillcoat explained to Esquire. "That is an actual IMAX 70mm shot taken days after Katrina. We had to doctor the image, grunge it up, make it more toxic, set it into our world, but these places were not hard to find. There's a fair amount of devastation already in the American landscape."

All in all the review is absolutely glowing, which gives me hope that this flick will do what was intended, crush your soul (and maybe lift you up just a tiny tad). If the review is accurate we should all leave the theater "feeling it in our chest plate," telling others to see it, yet unable to explain why. Which sounds exactly right - let's hope it's true.