Writer/director Sean Penn joined Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) for a press conference in Los Angeles to talk about the dramatic movie Into the Wild. Penn had called upon his friend Vedder to provide the music for Into the Wild and Vedder came through with a soundtrack that helps set the tone for the film, which is based on true events in the life of Christopher McCandless as chronicled in Jon Krakauer's bestselling book. McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch in the film) left all his possessions behind, gave away his money to charity, and set out to live in the wildnerness, eventually coming to the end of his journey in Alaska.
Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder Press Conference
You've made three movies about men trying to escape their past. Is that a conscious thing you like exploring? What attracts you to it?
Sean Penn: “I could probably give you a long-winded answer that would have some truth to it, but I would say the basic nature of it is not very analytical in terms of something I looked at various things at various times. It's probably first and foremost being a man trying to come to terms with himself and his past.”
Can you discuss the significance of the Sharon Olds poem that sparked the narration?
Sean Penn: “I'd read that poem some years before. It really stuck with me and got me into reading her stuff entirely. She's a great writer. That one just struck me for some reason because I'm in a lucky boy with parents. I'm in a supportive, loving family in that way. But I'm going to [guess] 92.6 percent of my friends throughout growing [up] and today didn't have [that]. It seemed so acute to have that sense of want. When I started to write, the poem had probably been in my head for about five years. But the book had been [for] about 10 years. When I started writing it, I got to about page three and that poem just jabbed me, so it was a way into something early in the picture.
I quickly wanted to make sure I could use if I was going to go on that road. So I called my partner, Art Linson, we'd bought the rights of the book together, and said, ‘Can I get in touch with this poet Sharon Olds and see if we could get the rights to it?’ And I called him right back and said, ‘As long as she's a woman and a great writer, I might to see if I could get her consultation on the narration at the end when I'm in post-production.’ I'd written the narration already but by that time but I knew I was going to want a woman's touch, and in particular, that woman's, if I could get it. So we made an overall deal with Sharon. I finished the script and then came back at the end when I'd recorded all of my original narration with Jena [Malone] prior to shooting, with timings and so on. Then I got Jena and Carine McCandless and Sharon and myself in a recording studio in San Francisco and we did our final kind of spin-around. Got it to be better and more with a woman's voice.”
Can you talk about the dynamics of your friendship?
Sean Penn: “We go back quite a ways, back to Dead Man Walking. It may be before that in a ‘hello’ backstage kind of way. I'm 47 so there's not too much music that comes after '68 that doesn't feel like it's been done before. And then comes [Vedder's] voice that so many times before we met, the voice sat me down. I mean, as a songwriter as well as a singer. So there was that, of course.
I was predisposed to want him to like me when we met [laughing]. It didn't work out too well the first time. But as it went along, I felt a kind of creative connection, or at least aspired to it. Then it started with other things we talked about in the past. I asked him to play the lead in a movie that I'd written at one point. He may tell you about that. On this thing, I'd written a script to be, in part, told by song. So I'd left out narrative in those transitional sequences, knowing just the seed of what I needed from the songs to close those gaps. It was about halfway through shooting, really, through Emile's performance that I started feeling, ‘This is it. This is Eddie's voice. This is the musical soul, the voice of what Emile was bringing.’ I asked, and then I'll let him take it from here.”
Eddie Vedder: “First of all, don't feel like you need to ask me questions. I'm just happy to be sitting this close to not only a great human being but [also] a master of what he does, in all the things he does. These [front row] seats are pretty good but this one's even better. I couldn't turn down that opportunity. Where did we leave off?”
Sean Penn: “Once I called you on this.”
Eddie Vedder: “If you go back to the poet, Sean had some resources. People call him back immediately because of the amount of respect he's gained and earned over the years. I was just another one of those calls and immediately I responded, and said goodbye to what I thought was going to be a vacation after doing a long stretch with the band. Our friendship is incredibly important to me. We've had some really memorable times, whether it's running rapids or having coffee. It's amazing how those things with Sean can be really similar. To work with him is to work with somebody. With Sean, that's where you get into the good stuff beyond, ‘Hey, how ya doin'. How's the family?’ That's all great, but to work with somebody and really get into it, I really enjoy that. That seems to further the friendship. It just gets deeper. The work is really where it gets exciting. As this has formed and it now seems to be done, it was a real gift. I'm really glad that he heard my voice in all that because it's been a real gift.”
What qualities did Emile Hirsch have where you would trust him with such an important role?
Sean Penn: “He's got a lot of talent. You used to be able to get some pretty intriguing brooders, you know, out of the young generation, or whatever that was. And then today you can get the clever and the witty and the sexy and the charming and the this and that, but none of those things happen to be the proper tool for this kit. I needed somebody who had a talent and a mug and a will, and also to photograph somebody going from boy to man, so you're catching somebody on that cusp. So it was all those things that Emile had that I don't know another who has.”
