Hull's Montcalm Tavern is turned into a 1947 Denver bar called The Red Shade in On the Road. (CBC)

Residents of Gatineau, Que., are keeping an eye out for film stars this week, as Hollywood movie crews transform some of the city's streets for a screen version of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

The film features roles for stars such as Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame, Viggo Mortenson, Amy Adams and Kirsten Dunst.

For Hull bar owner Charles Séguin, the big thrill will be seeing his Montcalm Tavern turned into a 1947 Denver bar called The Red Shade.

Séguin said the tavern's history makes it unique. Built in 1921, it once served as a livestock food store before being transformed into a tavern in 1954.

He said when he was first approached about using his bar as a location a few months ago, he thought it was for an independent film.

"We thought it was some guys in Montreal who were doing a little budget movie or whatever," said Séguin. "But now everybody is talking about it."

Francis Ford Coppola, whose company American Zoetrope is producing the film, has owned the rights to Kerouac's seminal novel on the beat generation for 30 years, but the $28-million production only started shooting this year.

Roch Brunette, general manager of the Ottawa/Gatineau Film Corp., helped choose locations for the filming in the region, and said the tavern had the right look to capture the era being depicted.

The bulk of the filming was done in Montreal, with shooting in the Hull sector of Gatineau scheduled to take four days. Eddy, Wright and de Lorimier streets are closed during shooting.

The film stars British actor Sam Riley in the role of Sal Paradise, the narrator and disillusioned protagonist of the novel. Riley's best-known role is as Joy Division's troubled singer Ian Curtis in the film Control.

Mortenson plays Old Bull Lee, a character patterned after Naked Lunch author William S. Burroughs.