Penn goes behind lens and ‘Into the Wild’

Penn tends toward dark stories, both those he acts in such as "Mystic River," which earned him a best-actor Academy Award, and the previous three he directed, "The Indian Runner," "The Crossing Guard" and "The Pledge."

As Krakauer did with the book, though, the broody Penn has made "Into the Wild" both gloomily stark and nobly exultant.

"Celebratory is the word I constantly use. It's the word I used when I was speaking with the parents, and it's why I felt even though initially they had backed out, some part of me knew that this thing just hungered to get out and be shared with people," Penn said.

Hirsch, who delivers a career-making performance, said he found inspiration for the demanding role in the body of work Penn has created on screen.

"Anything that I was going through, that was hard or that would make me question what I was doing, all I had to do was think of him and look at him and know that in the same situation if he were in my position, he would be doing it and doing it better," Hirsch said. "That was a huge motivator and really kept me going."

Attracted by McCandless' entire journey, not just its severe ending, Penn said much of the appeal lay in the young man's ferocious desire to strip away the trappings of his cozy upbringing.

Penn cites a photograph McCandless shot of himself shortly before he died, holding a farewell note that says he had a happy life and offering a blessing to all.

"He looks terrible, he's like concentration-camp-level emaciated. And the look in his eye was so kind of glorious," Penn said. "The idea of somebody facing a lesson about themselves, a lesson about purpose, a life lesson like that with so little time, no time, to do anything other than be willing to know it. That was just gigantic to me.

"I guess it was the completion of the story that appealed to me the most. The way that he was able to birth himself and bring himself to a wizened old age in two years."

McCandless' death prompted harsh criticism from Alaskans and others who said he brought it on himself out of arrogance. Detractors said McCandless snubbed his nose at nature by tramping ill-prepared into a harsh landscape.

Yet McCandless pulled off an accomplishment few Alaskans could match, surviving as long as he did with scant provisions and equipment, Penn said.

"One hundred and thirteen days alone in this kind of terrain is quite an achievement," Penn said.

"There's no place left in the world that's off the map. You find that place by not using a map. He defined the challenge the way he wanted it. I'm a guy, I never read the directions on how to use a movie camera. If I'd had to, I just wouldn't have been interested. I wanted to make the mistakes and do it and find it until it worked for me. And I think that's the way he looked at this."

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