Jack Kerouac had a love-hate relationship with Hollywood types. They loved to screw up his work, and he hated them for it.

The only major motion picture made from one of his books while he was still alive was “The Subterraneans,” a novel about a love affair between a white man and a black woman, which, like most of his writing, was based on Kerouac’s own life. 

Interracial love and sex – pretty incendiary stuff back in 1960.

But when the movie was made, it starred George Peppard and Leslie Caron. They’re both white! Racial differences were replaced by Franco-American hijinks. Oh là là!

Kerouac couldn’t even claim he sold out to pay his bills – he made very little from the ordeal. Understandably, the entire experience “left him feeling embittered” toward Hollywood, said scholar Gerald Nicosia, author of “Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac,” and the forthcoming “One and Only: The Untold Story of On The Road” from Berkeley’s Cleis Press.

So if Kerouac were still alive (he died in 1969 at age 47) and his opinion had not changed, it’s unlikely he would have embraced a movie version of “On the Road.” But the film has been shot, and in today’s column I look at the efforts being made to try to ensure that this will be the first successful adaptation of Kerouac’s work. 

As part of my research for the story, I read the text of the original scroll of “On the Road,” which Kerouac wrote in 1950. The novel was published in 1957 and is shorter and more polished than the scroll. What strikes you even in its raw form is the language. Yes, the beat. It was so breakthrough in its time for its invention and candor – it will be fascinating to see how filmmakers capture that. There are some who think it can’t be done, short of using voiceover – and voiceover is considered by many to be the weakest of movie storytelling techniques.

The producers did not respond to requests for information about the film. In fact, there’s been very little written about it anywhere, even though the project involves an A-list Hollywood team and stars.

Contrast that with the last movie made about another iconic San Francisco figure: “Milk” – the story of assassinated gay civil rights hero Supervisor Harvey Milk.

That production was like a huge public celebration with crowds gathered to watch the cameras roll. Go to the Castro today and men are still talking about the day when actors Sean Penn and James Franco (both heterosexual) were filmed making out…take after take after take.

Locales around the city were transformed back to the 1970s for “Milk,” adding to the excitement about the movie. A huge casting call gathered hundreds to recreate the candlelight march to City Hall that happened after Milk’s murder.

The very public production ended up raising enormous expectations for the film.

Then an unusual thing happened. “Milk” delivered on those expectations. Academy Awards and other honors poured in, and when the movie screened for sold out audiences at the Castro Theater there wasn’t a dry eye.

“On the Road” is taking a decidedly quieter path. It’s an approach that will help manage the expectations of Kerouac fans. But that raises a question. Why?