Into the Wild (film)

Infobox Film
name = Into the Wild


caption = Promotional film poster
director = Sean Penn
producer = Sean Penn
Art Linson
writer = Jon Krakauer (book)
Sean Penn (screenplay)
starring = Emile Hirsch
Marcia Gay Harden
William Hurt
Jena Malone
Catherine Keener
Vince Vaughn
Hal Holbrook
Kristen Stewart
music = Michael Brook
Kaki King
Eddie Vedder
cinematography = Eric Gautier
editing = Jay Cassidy
distributor = Paramount Vantage
released = September 21, 2007
runtime = 148 min
country = United States
language = English
budget = $15 million
gross = $51,519,343 [Worldwide Total Gross data from [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=intothewild.htm BoxOfficeMojo.com] as of July 17, 2008]
website = http://www.intothewild.com
amg_id = 1:352389
imdb_id = 0758758

"Into the Wild" is a 2007 film based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer about the adventures of Christopher McCandless. It was directed by Sean Penn, who also wrote the screenplay, and stars Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Marcia Gay Harden, Vince Vaughn, William Hurt and Catherine Keener. It premiered during the second edition of the Rome Film Feast, an Alaskan premier was given outside of Fairbanks on September 3, 2007, [cite web
url= http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/story/9276769p-9191580c.html
title= 'Into the Wild' premieres in Fairbanks
accessdate= 2008-07-17
author= The Associated Press
date= 2007-09-04
publisher= Anchorage Daily News
quote= The debut of “Into the Wild,” a movie directed by Sean Penn about a 24-year-old man who starved to death in the Alaska wilderness, drew a packed house Monday night.] a limited release was given on September 21, before a wide release on October 19.

Plot

"Into the Wild" recounts the life of Christopher McCandless, an actual student-athlete at Emory University, as told by his sympathetic sister. In response to his parents, whom McCandless perceives as materialistic, manipulative, and domineering, McCandless destroys all of his credit cards and identification documents, donates $24,000 (nearly his entire savings) to Oxfam, and sets out on a crosscountry drive in his well-used but reliable economy car towards his ultimate goal: to live alone and off the land in Alaska. Along the way, he leaves his automobile in the course of a flash flood, to hitchhike his way there after burning the remainder of his dwindling cash supply. Taking an unintentionally circuitous route, he encounters many unconventional individuals on his itinerary, such as a group of hippies, a farm owner (Vince Vaughn), and a lonely leather worker who offers to adopt and be a grandfather to Christopher (Hal Holbrook), as he purposefully trudges onward to his final destination, arriving in the wilds of Alaska nearly two years after his initial departure. He starts living in a "Magic Bus" serving as a shelter for people walking in the area (though in the film there is nobody else). Resourceful, McCandless finds joy in living off the land, and begins to write a book of his adventures. Unfortunately, as the spring thaw arrives, he is cut off from civilization by waterways. As his food supply lessens, he resorts to eating plants. Although he consults a brought-along book about the edibility of plants, he confuses an edible and a poisonous kind, which shuts down his digestive system forcing him to starve to death. As he dies, he continues to write, detailing his painful demise as a dramatic denouement to his autobiography.

Cast

*Emile Hirsch as Christopher McCandless / "Alexander Supertramp"
*Marcia Gay Harden as Billie McCandless
*William Hurt as Walt McCandless
*Jena Malone as Carine McCandless
*Brian H. Dierker as Rainey
*Catherine Keener as Jan Burres
*Vince Vaughn as Wayne Westerberg
*Kristen Stewart as Tracy Tatro
*Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz
*Zach Galifianakis as Kevin
*Jim Gallien as Himself

Filming

The scenes of graduation from Emory University in the film were shot in the fall of 2006 on the front lawn of Reed College. Some of the graduation scenes were also filmed during the actual Emory University graduation on May 15, 2006. [cite web|url=http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=17018 |title=Remake of "Nerds" Film Scrapped |accessdate=2008-01-29 |publisher=The Emory Wheel] The Alaska scenes depicting the area around the abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail were filmed 50 miles south of where McCandless actually died, in the tiny town of Cantwell. Filming at the actual bus would have been too remote for the technical demands of a movie shoot [citeweb|url=http://www.mensjournal.com/feature/M162/M162_TheCultofChrisMcCandless.html |title=The Cult of Chris McCandless |accessdate=2008-08-02 |publisher=Men's Journal] The production made four separate trips to Alaska to film during different seasons.

Critical reception

"Into the Wild" received strong positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 83% of 155 reviews of the film were positive, resulting in a "Fresh" rating. [cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/into_the_wild/ |title=Into the Wild (Rotten Tomatoes) |accessdate=2007-12-31 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 38 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/intothewild |title=Into the Wild (2007): Reviews |accessdate=2007-12-31 |publisher=Metacritic]

Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 4 stars out of 4 and described the film as "spellbinding". Ebert wrote that Emile Hirsch gives a "hypnotic performance", saying "It is great acting, and more than acting". Ebert said "The movie is so good partly because it means so much, I think, to its writer-director", Sean Penn. [cite web|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/REVIEWS/709270305 |title=:: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Into the Wild (xhtml) |accessdate=2007-12-31 |author=Roger Ebert |date=2007-09-28 |work=Chicago Sun-Times]

The American Film Institute listed the film as an AFI Movie of the Year for 2007. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = No Country for Old Men, Juno named to AFI's Top 10 of year | work = | publisher = CBC | date = 2007-12-17 | url = http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2007/12/17/afi-top-films.html?ref=rss | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-12-31]

National Board of Review named it one of the [http://www.nbrmp.org/awards/awards.cfm?award=Top%20Ten%20Films Top Ten Films of the Year] .

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2007/toptens.shtml |title=Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists |accessdate=2008-01-04 |publisher=Metacritic]
*1st - Ben Lyons "The Daily 10" [cite web |url=http://uk.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?galleryUUID=360de45f-1c26-41c1-99be-839812e57f83#7513b1e5-e81e-4d55-b83b-7e8b855fdef7 |title=Ben Lyons' Top 10 Films of 2007 - Photo Gallery |accessdate=2008-07-23 |publisher=E!]
*2nd - Ann Hornaday, "The Washington Post"
*2nd - Tasha Robinson, "The A.V. Club"
*3rd - James Berardinelli, ReelViews
*3rd - Kevin Crust, "Los Angeles Times"
*3rd - Peter Travers, "Rolling Stone" [Travers, Peter, (December 19, 2007) [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17686508/peter_travers_best_and_worst_movies_of_2007/3 "Peter Travers' Best and Worst Movies of 2007"] "Rolling Stone". Retrieved 2007-12-20]
*4th - Kyle Smith, "New York Post"
*5th - Claudia Puig, "USA Today"
*5th - David Germain, Associated Presscite web|url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Dec/20071227Go!013.asp |title='No Country for Old Men' earns nod from AP critics |accessdate=2007-12-31 |author=David Germain |coauthors=Christy Lemire |date=2007-12-27 |publisher=Associated Press, via Columbia Daily Tribune]
*5th - Joe Morgenstern, "The Wall Street Journal"
*6th - Carrie Rickey, "The Philadelphia Inquirer"
*6th - Steven Rea, "The Philadelphia Inquirer"
*7th - A.O. Scott, "The New York Times" (tied with "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly")
*7th - Noel Murray, "The A.V. Club"
*9th - Christy Lemire, Associated Press
*10th - Roger Ebert, "Chicago Sun-Times"

Awards

Wins

*65th Golden Globe Awards [cite web|url=http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/year/2007 |title=65th Golden Globe Awards Nominations & Winners |accessdate=2008-01-13 |publisher=goldenglobes.org]
**Best Original Song - Motion Picture ("Guaranteed")
*Gotham Awards
**Best Feature Film

*Mill Valley Film Festival
**Best Actor (Emile Hirsch)

*National Board of Review
**Breakthrough Performance - Male (Emile Hirsch)

*Palm Springs International Film Festival
**Director of the Year Award (Sean Penn)
**Rising Star Award Actor (Emile Hirsch)

*Rome Film Feast
**Jury Award (William Pohlad), (Art Linson), (Sean Penn)

*São Paulo International Film Festival
**Best Foreign Language Film (Sean Penn)

Nominations

*80th Academy Awardscite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/80academyawards/nominees/index.html |title=Nominees - 80th Annual Academy Awards |accessdate=2008-01-22 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]
**Best Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook)
**Best Film Editing

*65th Golden Globe Awardscite web|url=http://www.goldenglobes.org/news/id/81 |title=HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION 2008 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2007 |accessdate=2007-12-17 |date=2007-12-13 |publisher=goldenglobes.org]
**Best Original Score - Motion Picture (Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder)

*American Cinema Editors
**Best Edited Feature Film - Dramatic
*Broadcast Film Critics Association
**Best Film
**Best Actor (Emile Hirsch)
**Best Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook)
**Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Keener)
**Best Director (Sean Penn)
**Best Writer (Sean Penn)
**Best Song ("Guaranteed")

*Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
**Best Picture
**Best Screenplay - Adapted (Sean Penn)
**Best Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook)

*Directors Guild of America Awards
**Best Director - Film (Sean Penn)

*Cinema Audio Society
**Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures

*Costume Designers Guild Awards
**Excellence in Costume Design for Film - Contemporary

*"'Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards
**Best Foreign Film - English Language (Sean Penn)

*Grammy Awards
**Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media ("Guaranteed")

*Gotham Awards
**Breakthrough Award (Emile Hirsch)

*Satellite Awards
**Best Original Song ("Rise")

*Screen Actors Guild Awards
**Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
**Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Emile Hirsch)
**Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Hal Holbrook)
**Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Catherine Keener)

*USC Scripter Award
**USC Scripter Award (Sean Penn) (screenwriter), (Jon Krakauer) (author)

*"'Writers Guild of America Awards
**Best Adapted Screenplay (Sean Penn)

Box office performance

In North America, "Into the Wild" initially opened in limited release, in four theaters and grossed $212,440, posting a per-theater average of $53,110. For the next several weeks, the film remained in limited release until it expanded to over 600 theaters on October 19, 2007; in its first weekend of wide release, the film grossed just $2.1 million for a per-theater average of $3,249. As of March 23, 2008, the film has grossed $18,349,124 domestically and $29,224,879 worldwide. In total, the film has grossed $47,574,003. [cite web|url=http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=intothewild.htm |title=Into the Wild (2007) |accessdate=2008-01-05 |publisher=Box Office Mojo]

Home video release

"Into the Wild" was released on 4 March, 2008 as a standard DVD, [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZN802W/ Amazon.com: Into the Wild] ] Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition DVD, [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZN8036/ Amazon.com: Into the Wild (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)] ] and standard HD DVD. [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZN803G/ Amazon.com: Into The Wild (HD DVD)] ] The standard DVD contains the feature film, audio commentary, and trailer. The special edition DVD and HD DVD additionally contain two special features entitled "The Story, The Characters" and "The Experience". The Blu-ray Disc edition was released in France on 16 July 2008. [ http://www.dvdrama.com/news-26541-preview-into-the-wild-en-dvd-blu-ray.php fr] The Blu-ray edition for the U.S. will be released on 16 December 2008. [http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Disc_Announcements/Paramount/Into_the_Wild_Coming_to_Blu-ray/2109]

oundtrack

The soundtrack is performed by Eddie Vedder, guitarist and lead singer of Pearl Jam, Jerry Hannan with his song "Society", and Kaki King. Vedder won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for the song "Guaranteed".

References

External links

* [http://www.intothewild.com/ Official site]
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* [http://www.moviesmackdown.com/2008/08/into-the-wild-2.html "Into the Wild -vs- Cast Away"] on Movie Smackdown
* [http://outside.away.com/outside/features/1993/1993_into_the_wild_1.html The original article written by John Krakauer and published in Outside Magazine]
* [http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200709/into-the-wild-movie-1.html Outside Magazine interview with the Director and Cast of "Into the Wild"]