Into the Wild

Nominated for two Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor for Hall Holbrook.

Freshly graduated from college and with a promising future ahead, 22-year-old Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people. Was Christopher McCandless a heroic adventurer or a naive idealist, a rebellious 1990s Thoreau or another lost American son, a fearless risk-taker or a tragic figure who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature?

Each strand of his journey is woven into Sean Penn's screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer's acclaimed bestseller, Into the Wild, which is as much about the insatiable yearning for family, home and connection as it is the search for truth and happiness.

McCandless' quest took him from the wheat fields of South Dakota to a renegade trip down the Colorado River to the non-conformists' refuge of Slab City, California and beyond. Along the way, he encountered a series of colorful characters at the very edges of American society who shaped his understanding of life and whose lives he, in turn, changed. In the end, he tested himself by heading alone into the wilds of the great North, where everything he had seen and learned and felt came to a head in ways he never could have expected.

Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment present Into the Wild, written and directed by Sean Penn (THE INDIAN RUNNER, THE CROSSING GUARD, THE PLEDGE). The producers are Penn, Art Linson (FIGHT CLUB, THE UNTOUCHABLES) and Bill Pohlad (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN). The executive producers are John J. Kelly, Frank Hildebrand and David Blocker. The behind-the-scenes team includes cinematographer Eric Gautier (THE MOTORCYLE DIARIES), production designer Derek R. Hill (THE CROSSING GUARD), costume designer Mary Claire Hannan (HURLYBURLY), editor Jay Cassidy (a constant Penn collaborator and editor of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) and composer Michael Brook, Kaki King and Eddie Vedder. Vedder also wrote and performed the original songs.

Starring with Emile Hirsch (LORDS OF DOGTOWN, Alpha Dog) is a cast that includes Academy Award® winners Marcia Gay Harden (MYSTIC RIVER, POLLOCK) and William Hurt (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN) and Hal Holbrook (WALL STREET).

“Captivating.” (Claudia Puig, U.S.A. Today)