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.