'Wild': The movie brings Cheryl Strayed's long hike to the screen
The memoir 'Wild,' which is still on bestseller lists years after its publication, tells the story of Strayed's hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.
The memoir 'Wild,' which is still on bestseller lists years after its publication, tells the story of Strayed's hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.
When Cheryl Strayed published her 2012 memoir, 鈥淲ild," which detailed her experiences hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in an effort to recover from various personal crises, the book became a hit and is still on bestseller lists years later.
And now the book is being adapted as a film, directed by 鈥淒allas Buyers Club鈥� helmer Jean-Marc Vall茅e and starring Reese Witherspoon as Strayed.聽
In 鈥淲ild,鈥� the author is struggling after the death of her mother and the dissolution of her marriage. She decides that she wants to embark on a personal quest to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, planning to go more than a thousand miles by herself despite no hiking experience or training. Along the way, she meets other hikers and attempts to come to grips with her problems.聽
In an interview with the Monitor, Strayed said, 鈥淲hen I decided to hike the trail I was very literally seeking a different way of being in the world. I was having such a difficult time [due to] grief over my mother. And so I think that I knew that I needed to go somewhere that was like home and the wilderness was that鈥� aside from having kids and marrying my husband, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is the best thing that I鈥檝e ever done.鈥澛�
The movie version is adapted by author Nick Hornby, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2009 film 鈥淎n Education.鈥� 鈥淲ild鈥� also co-stars 鈥淭he Fault in Our Stars鈥� actress Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann of 鈥淭ransparent,鈥� and Thomas Sadoski of 鈥淭he Newsroom,鈥� among others.聽
Witherspoon, who is also producing the film, told the New York Times that she thinks the ending of the movie is something different than audiences are used to.
鈥淚 said to my producing partner, 鈥業f we can pull this off, this鈥檒l be the first movie 鈥� I believe, I can鈥檛 recall 鈥� but that stars a woman that at the very end has no money, no man, no parents, no job, no opportunities, and it鈥檚 a happy ending,鈥欌�� the actress said. 鈥淗ow important, how needing of that, are we? How late to the party are we?鈥�
"Wild" opens on Dec. 5.