Sean Penn's 'Into The Wild' is a fascinating and insightful film which conveys a message of appreciating the little things which make huge difference in our life.
'Into The Wild' is a spiritual guidance for people who are finding it hard to understand the true meaning of life. Based on the incredible life story of Christopher Johnson McCandless, the film revolves around a young man who abandons all the materialistic comforts and goes on to live his life in lap of nature. With great visuals, soothing soundtrack and top-notch performances from the cast members, this film is indeed a work of art, offering a lot to think about.
Here are some interesting trivia about this stunning movie:
'Into The Wild' is an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's bestselling book of the same name. Published in 1996, the book has been printed in 30 languages so far.
Emile Hirsch'e nuanced portrayal of McCandless is a major highlight of this film. However, he lost forty pounds to portray the character in the final days of life.
The watch Hirsch is seen wearing in the movie, was actually of Christopher McCandless.
Emile Hirsch did all the stunts (including the rock and mountain climbing, the grizzly bear scene etc.) in the movie on his own.
Sean Penn waited ten long years to get the approval of McCandless's family of making this movie.
The Alaska scenes were shot on the exact same locations where McCandless visited. This excluded the bus scenes as Sean Penn didn't want to shoot at the real bus in order to pay respect to McCandless's family. Instead, they built a replica bus and shot the scene there.
Hal Holbrook won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his epic portrayal of Ron Franz in this movie. It remained his only Oscar winning performance.
Music plays a vital role in the movie. For the song "Guaranteed", Eddie Vedder won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
Remember the scene where McCandless is floating down the stream? Well, the temperature was below the freezing point when this scene was being shot.
When Sean Penn first thought about making the film, he envisioned Leonardo DiCaprio as McCandless and Marlon Brando as Ron Franz. He once even considered Shia LaBeouf for the lead role.
Kristen Stewart played the character Tracy Tatro in the movie. Among all the songs her character sings in the movie, "Tracy's Song" was co-written by Stewart herself.
'Into The Wild' won several awards including Academy Awards (for Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing), Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2008.
