Hillcoat 'doesn't like disaster movies'

John Hillcoat has admitted that he was not a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction before choosing to direct an adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Road.

The Proposition helmer told Metro that he was initially unsure about taking on the project.

Hillcoat said: "When I heard it was post-apocalyptic, my heart sank. It's not my favourite genre. I imagined The Day After Tomorrow and 2012.

"What irritates me about sci-fi is that it got hijacked by video games and also became so high-concept it was all about ideas and gadgets and technology and nothing about the human experience. What I like is finding new angles on genres.

"When I actually read the book, what inspired me was how believably it put you in the here and now. Come apocalypse, it all becomes about your immediate day-to-day survival. And, refreshingly, the story didn't need to explain the big event."

Of the news-style footage in the movie's trailer, he added: "I think they were trying to put in a context for people who'd never read the book.

"But what they didn't calculate is that those who'd read and loved the book would see the trailer and think, 'What the f**k is this?'. Same reaction from those who are expecting 2012: you lose both your audiences."