Into The Wild
There was some talk a while back about Sean Penn's Into The Wild (Paramount Vantage, 9.21.07), an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's book about a young guy who tried to live like Jeremiah Johnson in the Alaskan wilderness but was found dead inside a bus four months later, possibly turning up at the Cannes Film Festival.
the real Chris McCandless
That may have been a slight possibility (Wild wrapped four months ago) and it may never have been one at all, but at least one solid reason why Penn's film won't be in France next month is that it's about to do some extra shooting here in Los Angeles. Emile Hirsch (Alpha Dog, The Girl Next Door) is playing the wilderness guy, Christopher McCandless, with Vince Vaughan, Kristen Stewart and Jena Malone costarring.
Hirsch's parents, Walt and Billie McCandless, are being played by William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden, and last week's announcement from casting director Rich King said they're looking for actors who resemble Hurt and Harden as they might have looked in their early 20s. Shooting is supposedly happening on Saturday, 4.28.
"WE ARE SEEKING A YOUNG CAUCASIAN MALE(20-24YRS) who looks like William Hurt," the sheet said. "This is for a flashback scene so we need a college-aged guy who looks like William did in his early 20's. He is approx 6'0 tall and slender with sandy blonde hair. He also needs to have a mustache (or can grow one quickly) and be willing to possibly remove it if asked.
"WE ARE [ALSO] SEEKING A YOUNG FEMALE (20-24YRS) WHO looks like Marcia Gay Harden. This is also for a flashback scene so we need a college-aged girl who looks like Marcia did in her early 20's. She is 5'5 and wears a dress size 4-6 with shoulder length dark brown hair."
Alaska -- the place where young American malcontents (McCandless, Timothy Treadwell) go to commune with nature and inevitably die due to having under- estimated the potential dangers.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 25, 2007 at 2:03 PM
comment #1
RoyBatty
says ...
Never saw the appeal of that story past the newspaper articles when it happened.
Dumbass white moron with no outdoor or survival training heads into the wilderness with only 10lbs of rice to eat and a rifle is discovered 112 days later very much dead. Shocker! The fact that he either poisoned himself or simply starved just makes his life that much more pathetic.
Make a nice double bill with GRIZZLY MAN: "Self-deluded Nimrods in Alaska."
Posted by RoyBatty
at April 25, 2007 3:10 PM
comment #2
Edward
says ...
I need more sleep. This is what I read:
"an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's book about a young guy who tried to live like Jeremiah Johnson in the Alaskan wilderness but was found dead inside a bus four months later possibly turning up at the Cannes Film Festival."
That might make for an interesting film!
Posted by Edward
at April 25, 2007 3:33 PM
comment #3
RoyBatty
says ...
As long as the bus turns up on a beach at Cannes, so at least with the death camp looking remains there will be plenty of exposed flesh out the windows to see...
Posted by RoyBatty
at April 25, 2007 3:52 PM
comment #4
MiraJeffAICN
says ...
Anyone have the contact details for that audition? I know a girl who'd be perfect!
Posted by MiraJeffAICN
at April 25, 2007 4:04 PM
comment #5
bmcintire
says ...
Roy
Krakauer is a pretty sharp writer, and he did a reasonably good joib with what could have been a terribly inert subject.
And thanks for the "white" qualifier. Whatever.
Posted by bmcintire
at April 25, 2007 4:12 PM
comment #6
Geoff
says ...
I've thoroughly enjoyed Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven and Into the Wild. He's a good non-fiction writer.
Posted by Geoff
at April 25, 2007 5:03 PM
comment #7
EOTW
says ...
IIRC, I think the guy broke his leg or something and laid up in that bus and died. Although, going into the woods was pretty dumb. I was born and raised in Alaska and even I wouldn't do that.
Posted by EOTW
at April 25, 2007 6:55 PM
comment #8
RoyBatty
says ...
"Under the Banner of Heaven" is a great book, although it does make you want to drive over to Utah and beat the ever living shit out of every fundamentalist Morman male over the age of 30 you can lay your hands on. And no, that wasn't a joke. I almost stopped reading it the damn thing was making me so angry.
Posted by RoyBatty
at April 25, 2007 7:15 PM
comment #9
americanrat
says ...
It's a compelling story and a great book, might make an interesting movie.
I don't remember all the details but McCandless pretty much knew what he was doing. People lived in the wilderness for thousands of years, there's no big trick to it if you know what you're doing. And he did, to a point. He just makes a fatal mistake and pays for it. Nature is unforgiving is pretty much what the book is about.
Posted by americanrat
at April 25, 2007 9:22 PM
comment #10
Josh Massey
says ...
I fear Penn will make McCandless into some kind of noble figure who shunned his material belongings to commune when nature - when, really, all he was was a typical pompous, know-it-all college kid (ie. the kind who wears Che Guevera shirts) who was as full of shit as he was full of himself.
F'in great book, though. When I had sights on becoming a writer-director, I always dreamed of making it into a film.
Posted by Josh Massey
at April 26, 2007 5:28 AM
comment #11
frankbooth
says ...
No new posts this morning. Is Mr. Welles sleeping off a hangover?
Those of us who had other obligations (some of us had drugs to steal, ears to sever, chanteuses to molest) expect a complete transcript of the evening, with photos. We want to know when beer gave way to shots, who threw the first punch, and if D.Z. and J-Mc wound up in a death-grip -- or merely with their arms around each other, singing sea shanties.
Posted by frankbooth
at April 26, 2007 9:21 AM
comment #12
Joshua Mooney
says ...
Yeah, Krakauer's a good writer, to be sure, but "Grizzly Man" was enough for me as far as these sad stories go. Herzog did it as good as it can be done, I think. And he said it best, too, when it comes to the unrelenting force and power of nature, be it ursine or whatever: "And what haunts me, is that in all the faces of all the bears that Treadwell ever filmed, I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature. To me, there is no such thing as a secret world of the bears. And this blank stare speaks only of a half-bored interest in food. But for Timothy Treadwell, this bear was a friend, a savior."
Let the dead bury the dead.
Posted by Joshua Mooney
at April 26, 2007 12:31 PM
comment #13
rgmax99
says ...
Under the Banner of Heaven and Into the Wild are both superb and chilling books. I'm highly looking forward to this film. Plus: Zach Galifinaikis (ms?) has a small role.
Man -- that fella can make me laugh...which is another subject entirely.
Posted by rgmax99
at April 26, 2007 7:31 PM