![]() ![]() Reaching quieter waters, he meets a pair of crazy Danish tourists who plant in his mind the idea of traveling downriver all the way to Mexico. The production shot much further southwest, on the relatively safer section of the Colorado between Lake Mead and Bullhead City. Naturally he ignores the rules, pushing his kayak in a shopping trolley past the mushroom rock formations that grace the entrance to Lee's Ferry and, despite lack of experience, launching straight into the treacherous rapids. It’s still a well-known fishing spot and a launching point for whitewater rafting trips through the Grand Canyon but, as Alex discovers at Lee's Ferry National Park Service Station, there’s a 12 year waiting list for permits to navigate the River. This meant it became an important river crossing and, named after the ferry operated here by one John Doyle Lee in the mid-1800s. He heads to Lee's Ferry in Coconino County, Arizona, about seven miles southwest of Page, which is the only place for hundreds of miles from which the river can easily be accessed. Into The Wild location: Alexander Supertramp heads to the Colorado River: Mushrooms Rocks, Lee’s Ferry, Arizona He finds work on a grain farm, and in the relaxed beery atmosphere of the Cabaret Steakhouse And Lounge, 130 Main Street East, Carthage, receives life lessons from farm-owner Wayne ( Vince Vaughn) as well as invaluable tips on wilderness survival from co-worker Kevin ( Zach Galifianakis).Īfter Wayne’s arrest for dealing shady cable boxes, Alex’s journey takes a new turn when he comes across a store window display of canoeing equipment and impetuously makes the decision to kayak down the Colorado River. There, he hooks up with self-styled ‘rubber tramps’ Jan ( Catherine Keener) and Rainey ( Brian H Dierker – who was the film’s Marine Coordinator) – proving the catalyst for both a crisis and a reconciliation between them as they camp on the rocky beach at Beard's Hollow in Cape Disappointment State Park, on the Washington/ Oregon border.Īlex flees the threat of human intimacy, slipping off during the night with no goodbyes, somehow ending up hundreds of miles to the east in the tiny town of Carthage, about 60 miles northwest of Sioux City, South Dakota. Now styling himself Alexander Supertramp, he hikes through idyllic greenery alongside Lake Tahoe on the Pacific Crest Trail, which winds from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington State. Travelling north to Nevada, he enters Reno beneath the famous Reno Arch with its ‘Biggest Little City in the World’ boast (the winning result of a city motto competition, apparently). After watching the affluent relaxing with their boats on the lake, Chris burns the last of his money and embraces the freedom of hitching. He doesn’t have the car long, though, when it’s caught in a flash flood near Lake Mead, Arizona. Without his family’s knowledge, Chris donates the whole of his $24,000 college savings to Oxfam and takes to the road in his reliable Datsun. The restaurant, welcoming Emory graduates and supposedly in ‘Atlanta’, is McCormick's Fish House, 9945 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, Beaverton, also in Oregon, just west of Portland. ![]() Told in flashback from the last days in Alaska, the film’s story begins with Chris’s graduation from Emory University, 201 Dowman Drive, Druid Hills, in Atlanta, Georgia.Īlthough there are wide establishing shots of Emory’s campus, in front of Michael C Carlos Hall, in order to minimise disruption, the graduation itself was filmed at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard, a private and independent liberal arts college in southeast Portland, Oregon.Īfterwards, Chris enjoys a celebratory dinner with his sister Carine ( Jena Malone) and parents ( Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) during which the fault lines in the seemingly perfect family begin to show, as Chris scornfully refuses the offer of a new car. ![]() The marathon two-year shoot encompassed 35 different locations throughout the United States, beautifully captured by cinematographer Eric Gautier, who had impressed Penn with his work on another epic cinematic journey, Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries. The crazy / visionary / reckless journey of Christopher McCandless – aka Alexander Supertramp – from a comfortable existence in the suburbs of Annandale, Virginia, to a lonely death in the wilds of Alaska, is filmed by Sean Penn on many of the real locations visited by the restless traveller.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |