Into The Wild Movie
Chris McCandless Into The Wild Movie
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
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 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.
