In the traditional sense, Cheryl Strayed had nothing when she embarked upon the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,663 mile stretch between the Mexican and Canadian borders of the United States. What she discovered, and what she wrote about in her book Wild: From Lost to Found on The Pacific Crest Trail, was that even without a husband, money, or a place to live, she had all she needed.
Her story has been adapted into the new motion picture Wild, directed by Oscar-nominee Jean-Marc Vallée, whose film Dallas Buyers Club won two Oscars last year for Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey) and Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto). So naturally, all eyes are on the director’s follow-up film, in which Reese Witherspoon braves the elements while overcoming her immense personal (and sometimes literal) baggage.
CraveOnline sat down with Jean-Marc Vallée to discuss his new film, how he approached directing a story that’s intended to inspire and the unexpected correlation between Wild and Dallas Buyers Club. We also learned which scenes with Oscar contender Laura Dern, who plays Cheryl Strayed’s mother, were improvised during makeup tests, and which real-life character was almost cut from the film until Strayed told the filmmakers that they should be put back into the story.
[Spoiler Alert: The ending of Wild, as it pertains to Cheryl Strayed’s psychological journey, is discussed over the course of this interview.]
Related: Telluride 2014 Review: ‘Wild’
CraveOnline: I noticed a certain motif that may have begun in Dallas Buyers Club, that you have continued in Wild, in which towards the end of the movie your protagonists are covered in tiny little creatures. Butterflies with Matthew McConaughey, little frogs for Reese Witherspoon. Total coincidence, I imagine?
Jean-Marc Vallée: Pure coincidence. Total coincidence. But yes, I noticed it too. After butterflies there are frogs. But it was written, you know, and it’s in the book.
It’s such a beautiful moment but it goes by so quickly. There’s no build up and there’s not much fall off…
Well, it goes quickly but this whole sequence, the frog sequence, is part of a sequence where she’s becoming one with nature. At the beginning, the first 30 minutes, nature is her enemy and we’re illustrating this with different… with the snakes, with the cold, with the heat, with the stupid caterpillar. She’s afraid of a caterpillar!
It’s a scary caterpillar!
And then she has frogs all over her, all over her at the end, and she’s like… She could have gone, “Oh my god!” and she’s… she’s one, now. She eats nature, the berries, and she’s finally in peace. It’s a beautiful journey of a woman who finds peace for herself. This is what the film is about.
