Above you will see the trailer for 'Into The
Wild' and a great interview of Penn and Vedder.
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 to be 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
here 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'.
copyright J Records
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 Visial
Media
Eddie Vedder
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 asked him to do it so he could capture the real
excitement of the moment but Hirsch only agreed after Penn
did 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 Racer
You can read more information on Emile on
this link.
