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.

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