Two big names have just signed on for Sean Penn’s next directorial feature Into The Wild (his last was 2001’s The Pledge). Vince Vaughn and Catherine Keener will join Emile Hirsch in retelling the true story of Christopher McCandless, a college graduate who set out to wander the globe, eventually hitchhiking to the Alaskan wilderness where he lived in seclusion before dying at a remote camp site. The movie is based on the book of the same name by Jon Krakauer, with Hirsch playing McCandless. I think the story sounds quite interesting, perhaps with some parallels to Werner Herzog’s 2005 documentary Grizzly Man about naturalist Timothy Treadwell. What I am curious about is the roles Keener and Vaughn will play, as the movie would seem to be focused mainly on the journey of McCandless himself (which could be boring without some sort of inner dialogue). I am looking forward to seeing how Penn pulls this one off. Into The Wild is planned for release sometime in 2007.

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