Daybreak Daily’s afternoon road trip across the pop-culture plains makes stops at a famous book, a noted film festival, other things and the mystery music video.

Continue reading

ON THE ROAD: It’s a hit at Cannes, so snap your fingers in unison, per the New York Times, “For filmmakers trying to capture the spirit of the Beats, there has always been the pressure — stated or not — of their work living up to the legends. . . It has been no different for Walter Salles, the first director to finally wrestle Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” to the big screen more than five decades after its publication caused a literary sensation and launched a thousand road trips, not to mention innumerable road movies.” http://nyti.ms/KSdP9W

MEANWHILE: Shirts optional for Kristen Stewart, per Vulture, “in the new film “On the Road’’ (which debuted on the Croisette this morning, adapted from the Jack Kerouac classic), Stewart takes her top off so many times that even the perennially shirtless Taylor Lautner would be impressed.” http://bit.ly/JUy7Vh

BIG STAGE: On a variety of fronts, per the Los Angeles Times, “On Wednesday night at a swanky party at the Cannes Film festival, Kanye West debuted the film, "Cruel Summer," which stars fellow rapper Kid Cudi and the Lebanese actress Razane Jammal (with a bit part by West) and unfolds over seven screens in a specially designed pop-up theater.” http://lat.ms/Lj52NS

MORE OF THE SAME: ‘Idol’ crowns a familiar-looking winner, per the AP, “Everyone expected Phillip Phillips to win "American Idol" - except Phillips himself. Shortly after cleaning the confetti out of his hair, the folksy guitar-strumming crooner who bested vocal powerhouse Jessica Sanchez on Wednesday still seemed surprised that he'd actually won the whole shebang.” http://apne.ws/LsLR3v

MEANWHILE: And he didn’t even win, per Billboard, “For the first time, one "American Idol" replaces another at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart as Adam Lambert's "Trespassing" debuts atop the list with 77,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan. His arrival bumps last week's leader, Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away," down to No. 3 (54,000; down 55%). It's Lambert's first No. 1 album and is his second major label studio set.” http://bit.ly/KCjdfK

PUTTING HIS FEET BACK IN THE WATER: Of combining acting and music, per The Hollywood Reporter, “AngelWorld Entertainment will finance and produce the Jessica Biel-Chloe Moretz-Jeffrey Dean Morgan starrer “The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea’’, with Justin Timberlake set to compose the movie's soundtrack and serve as music supervisor.” http://bit.ly/JVgyEq

JACKIE-O: An actor gets a coveted role, per Screen Daily, “Screen sat down with “The Paperboy” director Lee Daniels in Cannes last night at the film’s reception drinks. Daniels disclosed to Screen that he has chosen “Friday Night Lights’’ star Minka Kelly for the part of Jackie Kennedy in his next feature “The Butler’’, starring Forest Whitaker as Eugene Allen, the White House butler who served eight presidents.” http://bit.ly/JZJQ30

ON THE MEND: At least it wasn’t a spinal tap, per the New York Post, “Michael McKean is off Broadway after getting mowed down by a car on the Upper West Side — but he’s keeping a sense of humor about it. “We always tell each other to break a leg in this business. I never thought it would happen to me this way!” the actor quipped to producer Jeffrey Richards, who is using an understudy for McKean in Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man.” McKean, 64, was slammed by a car at about 3 p.m. Tuesday at the corner of West 86th Street and Broadway.” http://nyp.st/KSqBoS

ELTON JOHN: He tried to tough out an upper respiratory infection, per E!, “But his condition only worsened, resulting in the 65-year-old singer's hospitalization on Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. As a result, John has had to cancel three performances scheduled for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in Las Vegas.” http://eonli.ne/KdQF0s

ALL THINGS CANNES: Clip and save, as they say, per indieWIRE, “To make things easy for readers, Indiewire is offering up this handy guide to all the films in the various sections of the festival. Below is a day by day guide to the official selection, as well as links to individual film pages for each festival selection, including photos, trailers, clips, anJAd film critic grades as part of our Criticwire survey of fest films.” http://bit.ly/LIyRxh

AND FINALLY: Today’s mystery music video. http://bit.ly/JXVzPo

--Skip Wood (Follow me on Twitter @DaybreakSkip)