Into The Wild Movie by Sean Penn

Into The Wild Movie

In 2007 the great book by Jon Krakauer called ‘Into The Wild‘ was released as a movie and directed by Sean Penn. A fantastic movie accurately displaying the great work and research made by Krakauer on the life of Christopher McCandless. It was shot over 2 years and in 35 different locations throughout the United States. There were 2 replica buses made for the film of which were used in Alaska near a village called of Cantwell. This is the location where most of the footage of Chris in Alaska was filmed. Penn described the replicas as being perfect, “down to the rust spots.”

As expected, there were many directors interested in making a film based on the book and approached Krakauer. But fortunately, Krakauer and the McCandless family wanted to wait until they were ready to make a movie and if they did, they needed the right person to direct such a movie. Krakauer even suggested that if either Bille, Walt, or Carine did not want to make a film, they could change their minds at any time.

Carine has stated that one producer even told her that he could get Brad Pitt involved in the movie. They eventually put their trust in Penn who did a remarkable job. Penn also had Carine involved in the voice-overs for the film as she knew Chris better than anyone else.

The music in the movie was written by Eddie Vedder (from Pearl jam) who was chosen by Penn. Eddie Vedder had written songs for other films including Dead Man Walking as well as a movie that Sean Penn starred in called ‘I Am Sam’.

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The cast included

Emile Hirsch … Chris McCandless
Marcia Gay Harden … Billie McCandless
William Hurt … Walt McCandless

and included Jim Gallien who played himself

The film also won some awards and was nominated for some awards –

Academy Award Nomination
Best Supporting Actor – Hal Holbrook
Best Achievement In Editing – Jay Cassidy

Golden Globe
Winner – Best Original Song – Eddie Vedder

Writers Guild of America Nomination
Best Adapted Screenplay – Sean Penn

Grammy Award Nomination
Best Song Written For Motion Picture TV or Other Visual Media
Eddie Vedder

Into The Wild is available on DVD and you can read more on the official movie website here.

The actor playing Christopher McCandless was Emile Davenport Hirsch (Born March 13, 1985).

He was called by the Director Sean Penn to play the leading role. Penn had seen Hirsch in such movies as The Lords of Dogtown, Imaginary Heroes and Alpha Dog, which impressed him. Hirsch lost 40 pounds for the role and was nominated for several awards. He also wore a gold watch Chris McCandless had given to Jim Gallien.

Commenting on the 142 Bus, Hirsch says – “It was the only location we kept going back to. I went back to the bus more times than I went to my apartment in L.A. The bus became my spot. I loved it.”

For the scene where Hirsch goes down the rapids in a canoe, Penn asks him to do it so he can capture the real excitement of the moment but Hirsch only agrees after Penn does it first! Penn did go down the rapids but after a while his canoe filled with water and it tipped. He was very quickly helped by an expert canoist and this gave Hirsch the confidence to do it himself.

Hirsch has also starred in the following films:

Gargantua
Wild Iris
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
The Mudge Boy
The Girl Next Door
Lords of Dogtown
Alpha Dog
Into the Wild
Speed Race

1 Comment

  1. I saw the movie.into the.wild and became totally immersed in his story 2 weeks sgo
    I have been obsessed eith chris/alex and have reading anything i can find. I dont really know why but it is what it is.

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