Michael Kenneth Williams in "The Road"

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Posted by Tom Blunt 0n AMCTV

The critically acclaimed series, The Wire, may have recently wrapped, but Michael K. Williams hasn't put his dark side to rest. His unforgettable portrayal of stick-up man Omar Little has catapulted him into two film adaptations that horror fans are already circling with morbid curiousity: Cormac McCarthy's apocalyptic drama The Road and Michael Cuesta's Poe-flavored Tell-Tale.

Williams isn't shy about telling you why both of his upcoming films bring enough new meat to the table justify their existence.

First of all, filming The Road was no cushy green-screen affair. "We filmed on location at Lake Erie, in the state park over there," he says, "While it was very beautiful, in the context of our scene, it could have been a very scary place. It was no joke: We were in the elements, and it was freezing." The experience left a mark on him that still lingers. "It's made me reassess the little things I take for granted, like shelter, food, water and even companionship and human contact," he says. "It was crazy to be scrounging and killing for the things we take for granted in everyday life."

In the film, Williams plays a drifter who finds himself at odds with the stars Viggo Mortenson and Kodi Smit-McPhee over a shopping-cart laden with potentially life-saving supplies. Those who've read the book remember this encounter very well, and those who haven't are currently covering their eyes and yelling "NO SPOILERS!" Don't worry, your ignorance is still completely intact

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation. -- Random House