Official Site of Marcia Gay Harden :: The Work

Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), son of wealthy parents (Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt), graduates from Emory University as a top student and athlete. However, instead of embarking on a prestigious and profitable career, he chooses to give his savings to charity, rid himself of his possessions, and set out on a journey to the Alaskan wilderness.

Director: Sean Penn

Awards and Nominations

Academy Awards, 2008
Nominated - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Hal Holbrook

Golden Globes, 2008

Best Original Song - Motion Picture - Eddie Vedder, For the song "Guaranteed".

Screen Actors Guild Awards 2008
Nominated - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Emile Hirsch
Nominated - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Hal Holbrook
Nominated - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Catherine Keener
Nominated - Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Roger Ebert Review - "Into the Wild" ****

For those who have read Thoreau's Walden, there comes a time, maybe only lasting a few hours or a day, when the notion of living alone in a tiny cabin beside a pond and planting some beans seems strangely seductive. Certain young men, of which I was one, lecture patient girl friends about how such a life of purity and denial makes perfect sense. Christopher McCandless did not outgrow this phase.

Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, which I read with a fascinated dread, tells the story of a 20-year-old college graduate who cashes in his law school fund and, in the words of Mark Twain, lights out for the territory. He drives west until he can drive no farther, and then north into the Alaskan wilderness. He has a handful of books about survival and edible wild plants, and his model seems to be Jack London, although he should have devoted more attention to that author's "To Build a Fire."

Read the full review at RogerEbert.com

Rolling Stone/Peter Travers Review- "Into the Wild" ****

Sean Penn has molded one of the best movies of a bustling fall out of Jon Krakauer's best-selling Into the Wild. Krakauer told the true story of Chris McCandless, an honors grad from Emory University who walked into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992 to find himself outside the confines of estranged family, well-meaning friends and any governing impulse besides his own questing heart. If you read the book and pegged Chris as a wacko narcissist who died out of arrogance and stupidity, then Penn's film version is not for you. If, like Penn, you mourn Chris' tragedy and his judgment errors but also exult in his journey and its spirit of moral inquiry, then this beautiful, wrenching film will take a piece out of you.

Read the full review at RollingStone.com