Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail was one of my favorite reads last year. I loved the unassuming way that Strayed told the story of how she hiked 1,000 miles following her divorce and the loss of her mother. Strayed never seemed like she was bragging or exaggerating, just like she was explaining how she overcame a very difficult transitional period by challenging herself. I came away admiring Strayed and feeling like I understood what she went through. So while I’m glad that her story has been optioned into a movie, I’m disappointed that Reese Witherspoon will be playing her.
Somehow, despite the fact that I read celebrity news all day, I missed the fact that Strayed’s memoir was being made into a film and that Reese would be the lead character. Maybe if I had heard about this ahead of time I wouldn’t have viewed the trailer as negatively. As it is, Reese seems unsuited for this role. I don’t want to get inside Reese’s head for two hours while she goes on a journey of self discovery. I do think Reese can act, but this requires some Tom Hanks in Cast Away level acting. I don’t think she can pull off this role.
Here’s the trailer and I’ll say a bit more after you’ve had a chance to see it.
It looks like they’re playing up Strayed’s drug use and promiscuity, which didn’t seem to have as central a place in the book. Maybe Strayed downplayed that part of her past because she was embarrassed about it, but it seemed like she was just starting to delve into heroin addiction when she decided to hike the PCT.
Reese has this role because her production company was the first to option the book. Of course she cast herself as the lead in something that would help her escape her romcom shackles. The film was adapted for a screenplay by Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) so it could be good. Strayed was 26 when took her epic hike, and I feel like this needed a younger actress with more vulnerability. We’ll see though, maybe Reese will surprise me.
Here’s a photo Reese Instagrammed with her son, Tennessee, who turns two at the end of September. She captioned it “Last day of beignets with my boy #NOLAstyle” Her lifestyle company is still in the works. Judging from her Instagram, it should come out any day now.
How very Chicken Soup for the ‘I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN!’ Soul.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. Exactly! No thank you Laura Jean Poon.
“I know my rights, y’all!”
Lol Abbot, you kill me.
LMAO! I love you guys here. You always crack me up.
I love you for that..in the right kind of American Way, of Course
Ha!
Ugh, she is really desperate for that second Oscar nod isn’t she? Her box office clout has tanked so I guess this is our punishment.
Cute little boy…get used to being photographed kid! Mommy’s got an Oscar campaign to run!
Yeah, you ain’t kidding. This is also coming out three months after the superior-looking “Tracks.”
The trailer is interesting. I thought she was stronger in the scenes where she had to interact with other actors, but weak in the scenes in which she has to emote without another actor to react to/off of. Her performance seems off somewhat. The trailer is not much to go on though.
I felt the same way when I saw the trailer yesterday. When she alone her acting falls short and I think those scenes should be the most powerful.
@Candy, exactly!
Quote: It looks like they’re playing up Strayed’s drug use and promiscuity, which didn’t seem to have as central a place in the book.
Actually, I read this book for my bookclub and hated it. Strayed is a self-absorbed, ill-prepared princess and the whole book revolved around her drug use and promiscuity. It was what ruined her marriage. In fact, one or the other showed up in EVERY chapter of this piece of crap book.
Ha! Obviously I disagree, but that’s what we’ve enjoyed about Celebitchy Book Club, having different takes. The way you feel about Strayed is the same as I felt about Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love. I thought Gilbert was a twit, but this one resonated with me for some reason.
Reading tastes vary greatly amongst people, so I tend to view it all as a “to each their own” and in my book club, I was in the minority. Everyone else liked/loved it. I tend to read all over the spectrum (have hit the 100 books since Jan 1 mark so far), but I do tend to stay away from this particular genre, mostly because I find it irritating that people do not seem to learn from the experiences.
Of course, with this particular book, it could be that I found the injection of the drug use/sex to be almost jarring. It didn’t go with the flow of the book. Like the horse episode, whatever little feeling I had for the author, I had nothing but scorn for how that panned out. Had she just concentrated on the trail and the experiences on the trail, I think it could have been a good book.
I intensely hated both Gilbert’s and Strayed’s books. Either I’m like Squiggles and I dislike the genre, or i’m just misanthropic.
Maybe I’m biased when I read these woe-is-me, navel-gazing, first world problem books (not to denigrate the true pain caused by divorce and breakups), but I can’t help comparing these women to the women in my family, who have gone through things like the Holocaust and suriviving Communism and the loss of a child and who still seem to have more grace and a better attitude. And invariable, it just makes me roll my eyes *hard* at these women.
@Faye – I completely agree with you! A death of a mother is a tragedy, and divorce is awful – but many of these navel-gazing memoirs are about bored people creating their own problems.
I wanted to slap Gilbert while reading Eat Pray Love. Ugh.
Ha! Count me in the camp of not loving Wild and despising Eat Pray Love. Although I do have to say Wild gave me a major jones for hiking the PCT or at least part of it, while Eat Pray Love only made me utterly embarrassed for Gilbert.
Loved the book, really related to Strayed. I however, just don’t hate Witherspoon. I think she may knock this one out of the park.
While I enjoyed some of Eat Pray Love, both that book, and seemingly this book bother me – in some part because I know people who have lived hard lives, gone through divorces, deaths of loved ones or other tragedies, and didn’t have the luxury of just packing in their lives and going on some self-centered journey of self-discovery. The people I know had to buckle down and just get on with the business of living, finding jobs or keeping the ones they had, supporting themselves, their children, taking care of family members who depended on them.
I’m of the mind that pretty much anyone can ‘find themselves’ and ‘discover the true meaning of their lives’ if granted months and months of a sabbatical from day to day living, from having responsibilities any other human beings… any one can fill their diary pages with poetry and ‘deep thoughts’ after being giving the luxury of concentrating only on what THEY want and what THEY want to do at any given moment, traveling wherever they will. The stories of those people might make good books, but they are not the the true heroic stories of life. Or even the stories that I want to read.
And on a completely shallow note, the entire time I watched that trailer, all I kept thinking was ‘does Reese Witherspoon really go this entire film without once closing her mouth?’ Not that she talks too much, just that every scene shows her with her mouth just hanging open – in shock, in fear, in awe, in not knowing what to say, in breathlessness. She finally closed it in one of the last clips.
Okay, confessing: I hated both books too. As a few here have said, I felt like they were navel-gazing spoiled twits.
I couldn’t get into eat pray love the book but really loved watching the movie as I drank wine alone one night. I did enjoy reading Wild and think its also one of those date with myself type of movies. Her search for herself somewhat resonated with me. Seems like a great journey, hopefully Reese portrays the character well.
I read both and disliked both. Elizabeth Gilbert just infruiated me though. Most self absorbed person ever. She goes to India and Indonesia and really doesn’t mention the poverty or devastation in those communities. Instead she talks about how much she likes to eat and how she got called Groceries. BAH. I am still, still mad at my book club about this book.
Thank you. I was going to write just about the exact same comment, but you wrote it first.
@starrywonder – I forgot to mention that part! India was an amazing country but even if you stay in a five star hotel, if you do ANY kind of touring you can’t help notice and be deeply saddened by the incredible poverty among so many. It takes a special kind of self-absorption to travel the country and just focus on you and what you ate.
Not to sound like one of those self-dramatizing authors, but when I travelled there I remember one evening sitting down to dinner and being served a gourmet meal and not even wanting to eat it – I just felt so guilty and horrified knowing there were young children scrambling to survive. And no, that does not make me Mother Theresa. Gilbert just seemed so off to me.
starrywonder, agreed…and I’ll add that I was even more infuriated at Gilbert’s pathological need for a man for validation, despite her claims to the contrary. I’m still mad I wasted my time on her drivel.
@Faye yeah I’ve traveled through India too and you can’t help to be touched by the extreme poverty some people are living through. That whole memoir left a bad taste in my mouth.
@Esmom. Yep. It really angered me since you received no details why her marriage was so awful and then it went into her affair which she went on and in about through two countries. When she said she had a vision of her husband appearing before her and forgiving her while in India I drop kicked the book across the room.
Squiggles I agree with you… The book was very irritating. It was like the moral of the story was “as long as you’re okay with yourself, it doesn’t matter how bad of a person you are.” Even if you are a heroin addict who cheats on her husband and takes ill prepared trips into the wild. Ooook. Didn’t “speak” to me and I won’t be seeing the movie.
I too hated Eat Pray Love, but enjoyed Wild. But that may have a lot to do with the fact that I knew a lot of Strayed’s story before hand from reading her work as “Dear Sugar,” which was a profoundly insightful (and, at the time, anonymously-authored) advice column. I guess I was pre-disposed to like her in Wild because I loved her, and found her to be very wise/compassionate, as Sugar. I guess I also relate because I too lost my mom in my early 20s, and while I didn’t go off the rails like she did, I totally understand what she was feeling. To that end, I think the drugs and promiscuity were very central to the story, as they were the symptoms of the emotional damage (grief over the loss of her mother) that she was trying to heal by taking the walk. It’s hard to see how just focusing on the walk alone would have made as much sense because it would ignore what drove her to it. All that said… I this movie looks terrible.
She’s simply too old for this role. I’m not an ageist, but the character wasn’t pushing 40 and having a mid-life crisis. She was a 20 something going off the rails and trying to right her path. This makes it like another Eat Pray Love, when it’s not.
She did the same thing with Water for Elephants–cast herself in a role that should’ve been played by someone 10 years younger.
She ruined that movie. No chemistry with Rob or Christoph, and far too old to be playing a young circus wife. The best scenes in that movie were of Rob with Christoph.
That was one of the worst castings. And she and Pattinson had NO chemistry.
Yep. I loved Water for Elephants and she had no business being in that role. Emma Stone, Carey Mulligan, or even Jennifer Lawrence would have rocked that role. It should have been played by someone at least 10 years younger. I feel bad that there are not that many movie roles for older actresses but it was distracting to me every time she and Rob were in the same frame together. She was like an older sister. And yep no chemistry period.
Reese I Am An American Citizen Poon has zero chemistry with any of her co-stars and after that arrest video leaked we now know why.
She really wants that oscar
In my opinion she should have never received the first one.. I can’t/won’t with this she irritates me soooooooooooooooo much can’t look at her face for 2 hours
+1.
VERY mediocre actress.
I was shocked that she received an Oscar for Walk the Line but her co-star, Joaquin Phoenix, didn’t. He was terrific in the role of Johnny Cash; however, as June Carter Cash, she was good but not great.
Was her Oscar based on luck and timing? Other than Felicity Huffman in a really small movie she had no competition. I’ll bet there were many years she wouldn’t have even been nominated for WTL. She was good but she didn’t exactly transform cinema or anything.
This should be renamed Into The Wild 2 : “Don’t You Know Who I Am??!!”
LOL
Ha!
Any time I see her now, I think, “Laura Jean Poon.” Thanks, Michael K.
Cute little boy, though.
couldn’t even watch it to the end – so boring. In the last pic – I know she is trying to act, but all I can see is her chin.
Lol, I know. It looks oddly not integrated with the rest of her face.
Emma Stone would’ve been nice in this.
Oh man. She would have been such a better choice. As is, this ones a pass. Not parting with $10 to watch Reese Witherspoon walk for 2 h.
Agreed! I think it gives the story a whole different feeling by changing the lead character’s age this much. Emma probably would have been amazing!
It’s seems wrong that an almost 40 would play a 26 years old.. other than that, I haven’t read the book but the trailer seems good (even though I don’t really like Reese these days).
I don’t know the book but the trailer is good and it’s nice to see Reese Witherspoon to act again
Does she have fans still ? I’m just wondering who would be interested in her lifestyle site. I would check out goop, or Blake lively’s site, but reese lacks any intrigue for me. Especially after recent lovely videos of her showed her personality. It doesn’t help that she has the gall to cast herself as much younger woman here. I saw the trailer yesterday knowing nothing or the book, and I assumed the story was about a 40 year old, not 26.
Also I still can’t believe Jake Gylenhall dated her for real?! Or is he gay?
TBH I think her site has the potential to make a lot more money , not because I’m a big fan but because her brand is Mini-van. Like where Goop or Blake will go with some 700$ pair of socks or something she may actually have more reasonable and accessible products and her look is attainable.
Ugh I’m adding her to the list I won’t buy crap from like the kkk and Jessica Simpson.. Still waiting for someone to answer whether you guys thing jg is gay or was really into her
She does, @dolce crema. I live in a neighborhood with a lot of them – all SUV-driving moms. They are actually very nice women, for the most part, and I don’t like all the sneering at the so-called “minivan majority” that goes on, but there’s no denying that’s her target audience. I think they’re around her age and grew up watching her rom-coms and really buy into her whole “I’m just a sweet ol’ mom like y’all” shtick. They don’t go on sites like these as much so they don’t hear all the less-than-salubrious stories. They’re more likely to get their celeb gossip from People. So I don’t know if they’ll buy her stuff, but they are out there.
I hate that she gets rich from these ppl when she is basically manipulating them. Too harsh ?!
Yes-exactly right, Faye. I have to bite my tongue when my “co-minivan majority women” start talking about how much they like her and how “real” she is. Oy vey.
@DocleCrema – according to Lainey Jake is not gay as she states in one of her posts last week. I was convinced he was and part of that was from her hints but she stated that he wasn’t.
Thank you for the answer. I wonder what jg liked about Reese
The trailer reminds me of the Twilight movie. Something about the coloring and the music. Anyway thanks for the laughs everyone re Laura Jean Poon I am an American Citizen.
She looks smug in those photos. I prefer Beyoncé or Nicole Richie for these kind of photos
Isn’t she also in some movie about orphans from Somailia (?) or something. very Oscar-baity stuff.
Well, at least she is working.
Found it – the movie is The Good Lie and the orphans are from Sudan. Reese is brunette so we know she is serious.
Ah yes-her other Oscar-worthy performance.
God I hate Reese Witherspoon. However, I love good movies and this trailer looks damn promising. I’ll check out the reviews when it comes out and if they’re positive I will end up seeing it. I did love Dallas Buyers Club so I’ll try to keep an open mind. Wish they’d cast someone else though.
I don’t see how going on a 1000 mile hike would solve anything. Think I’ll pass on this one.
I like the premise because a hike on such a remote, rugged trail would really force you to reflect seriously about your life. But Strayed went about it in such a half assed way she is lucky to have survived it.
Reese is my “hate watch” go to actress. If that makes any sense. I get annoyed by her personally but I seem to always enjoy the movies she’s in. I loved Mud and Devil’s Knot was great. And American Psycho?…get out of here…she was awesome. LOL
Maybe I just loved the movies themselves and she didn’t have enough opportunity to ruin them for me?
For me, when she’s good, she’s fantastic and when she’s not good, she’s unbearable.
Ok but like, you just named the only three movies she’s been in that DIDN’T suck.
Let’s not forget that this is the chick who did Sweet Home Alabama, This Means War, Penelope, Rendition, Cruel Intentions, Water for Elephants, Little Nicky, and that movie with Marky Mark.
Mud was awesome mainly because of McConaughey’s performance. I don’t even remember her from American Psycho, probably because her entirely-forgettable screen presence was eclipsed by the great Christian Bale.
Even her performance in Walk The Line was absurdly overrated.
I challenge you to this, Jaderu-take any other actress of mediocre acting caliber and substitute her for Reese. Would the movie be any less amazing if that were the case?
That to me is one of the telltale signs of an average-at-best actress.
The only movies I’ll give her credit for is Legally Blonde and Election. Those are the only two roles where she was appropriately cast and actually delivered somewhat-memorable performance.
I really enjoyed her work in Freeway & Man in the Moon. I think she is a good actress, and I don’t consider myself a fan of hers off screen.
You left out the awful Vanity Fair.
I don’t pay attention to her personnally so maybe that’s why she doesn’t annoy me the same way she seems to anger others.
Her name only won’t make me put my butt on a seat in the theater but I’ve actually enjoyed the performances you listed.
I hate romcoms so I tend to skip these ones so I mainly know her (and probably keep a soft spot) because of The Man in the Moon, Pleasantville or Freeaway.
I’m probably one of the rare people who enjoyed Rendition (unpopular opinion here but Streep was the annoying one for me). And lastly, even if Firth and Everett were the riot in The Importance of being Earnest, I really liked her Cecily.
So again, not unconditional appreciation but not systematic rejection. And I rarely base my choices on trailers, but Hornby and Vallée are an interesting combo.
Ok , she was decent in Man in The Moon but she was FIFTEEN.
It’s not the hallmark of a consistently-good actress to peak at 15 and then get progressively worse every subsequent year. Ok, maybe not worse but certainly not better IMO.
Never saw Freeway so no comment.
I have no opinion about Reese as a person but before all the public backlash she was very much like a Sandy Bullock in the sense that she was a mediocre actress that women are *supposed* to like because she’s All-American, kinda goofy, un-threatening, and generally pleasant in demeanor (until the “ don’t you know who I am???” reared it’s ugly head).
I totally cop to the fact that I might have a bias when it comes to her but I resent being told that I should like a “relatable” actress who plays forgettable characters in crappy rom coms. Give me a serious, possibly-polarizing, maybe-even-controversial actress of talent and substance over a sunshiny Witherspoon any day of the week.
@OriginalKitten I get ya. She has done some stinkers, but I think every actor/actress has. She hasn’t been consistent. I rarely watch romcoms myself but I actually enjoyed Sweet Home Alabama *ducks* (See admitting you have a problem is the first step LOL)
Oh and PS –Whoever the masochistic monsters are (“I resent being told that I should like”) that are telling you that you have to like Reese and Sandra need to step the fuck off. haha
She just doesn’t make me gag or I don’t get irritated watching her in movies. Meh, just my 2 cents.
And PSS– I thought she was frikken hilarious in American Psycho. The whole movie was great but I cackled during her scenes.
The author, Cheryl Strayed, is lucky that she survived her own stupidity (lack of drinking water on the trail).
Yeah, I went over to Good Reads and read the reviews of the book. Quite a few people had some harsh things to say about her. But plenty of people liked her. It seems like quite a polarizing book.
Oh yeah, she definitely was dumb early on in her hike. She was way too inexperienced for the PCT and she didn’t prepare. But I came away from the book having a lot of respect for her for doing it and surviving.
You kind of have to question how much of her story is actually true. I believe she did everything she claims but it wouldn’t shock me if some of it was fabricated or exaggerated to enhance her story.
Oooooh good point! Like a million little pieces!
I said something similar above. She is really lucky, she was ill prepared in so many ways.
She comes across as super flat to me, her voice, her acting. If I had to make a decision based on the trailer alone I would choose to not watch the movie.
That was my first thought after I read the book “Reese is too old to play Cheryl!” They definitely need someone who can show naivete. I hope Reese can do it justice.
I cosign everything you have written about the movie adaption, CB. Reese is about 15 years too old for this role. It isn’t the story of a middle aged woman going through divorce and setting out on the a trail of self discovery. I kind of wish that Emma Watson would have gone after the role. With the right acting coach I think she could have pulled it off. And although she cannot act worth a flip, K Stew kind of has the look of Strayed. She has a strong beauty but she clearly lacks self confidence… I liked the book a lot as well, especially the adventure parts. Some of the writing when she was talking about her drug use and sex life was a little awkward to read, but her journey overall was really fascinating. I hiked pieces of the PCT in my early 20s as well. It is remarkable.
I thought Reese did a respectable job in Walk the Line, exactly what she should have delivered, but not next-level oscar-worthy. I’m excited to see her try Wild, I hope she can deliver. I hate it when I cant stop thinking about who the actor is during a movie (i.e., “look there is Leo DiCaprio acting”); I want to get lost in the character/story! I thought Matthew McC would always be that flaky ken doll guy, but then he blew my socks off in True Detective, love it when that happens! On another note, Reese was great in the movie “Freeway” check it out. This was before she became big and I thought she had some serious talent.
I’m a fan and I haven’t read the book that the movie is based upon but I think the movie looks pretty good. I’ll wait to see it before I judge it one way or another.
Came here to say this: an external frame pack? What is she, a boy scout circa 1972? Has no one in the production crew ever backpacked before, or even bothered to consult with an outdoor goods store? Is there some reason in the book that indicates why she would want to use outdated equipment?
I’m pretty sure that’s what she actually used. The book made a pretty big deal of how she overpacked and had to cut things loose so that it wouldn’t weigh her down too much.
Apparently I’m in a minority here, but I love Reese. I just can’t avoid it, having watched Legally Blonde (and the sequel) far more times than I’d like to admit. But I’ll give you she’s very hit or miss.
Anyway, I’m hoping for the best. Her latest romcoms have all been bloody awful.
I hope the hype around this doesn’t take away from the release of “Tracks,” another true story about a woman who goes on an epic hiking trek. That one looks a lot better, and has Mia Wasikowska, who I think will do a better acting job. I liked Reese in Legally Blonde and Pleasantville, but I don’t know about this. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised.
Witherspoon could never act. All I saw was her and not her character. Plus, she is a terrible human being behind the camera. I’m not just talking about her arrest but her behavior on set. Even Vince Vaughn wanted to kill her.
I backpack. I just hope the wannabe Cheryl’s watching that movie remeber she was lucky not to be hurt or killed. A lot can happen when you are unprepared. Train like you would for any athletic event. Taking your gear out for ten mile day hikes to get used to carrying the weight. Take a survival course for the backwoods, including snow surival because if you hike at high elevation, you can get snow even in June. Know the laws. Backcountry fires in the Sierras are a no no this year because of the drought. There already have been fires. If you take your dog. Be sure you can treat his wounds and know how to transport him out on your own if he is a big dog. Search and rescue will not come for your sog if he breaks his leg, is hurt in a tussle with wildlife or slices open his paw. A lot of people like me who love the Pacific Crest Trail are not looking forward to the people who think theycan just buy some stuff at Sports Chalet and be on their way without any specialized backcountry training or knowledge.
Just being inspired to go out there doesn’t mean you won’t learn how to do it properly. I read Eric Ryback’s book of walking the trail when I was a little kid and it inspired me to learn everything I could about back country hiking. The people who are really unprepared tend to head in 5 or 10 miles and call it good. Turns out they’re so sore on day two that they tend to hunker down and camp within site of the trail. 🙂
You’re definitely right about the snow; a couple of years ago, we got snow on a hike over the 4th of July weekend.
I think the movie looks good; at least it looks like something an adult would like to see, which is not always easy to find.
Hit snow in August in CO. Often a little in mid-June in upper Yosemite & Sierra (CA-NV.) Preparation is critical. I don’t know what year this took place so no comment on equipment.
Re: trailer – scenery is striking so I’ll wait for the movie to hit HBO. I read about 30 pages of EPL & quit; changed channels after 20-30 minutes of the movie on tv. Internal monologues of self-discovery don’t interest me much as reading material, with a couple of exceptions for particularly talented writers such as Joan Didion.
I know some people will prepare properly. I’m not worried about running into them in the backwoods. I’m talking about the unprepared ones.
+1
When I read the book, those were my thoughts, too. The PCT is challenging and beautiful, but the through hikers have to be in great shape and prepared for the unexpected. I’ve hiked sections of it too, and it is one of those memorable experiences.
It’s like I was born to have a different opinion than everyone on this site. I don’t feel anything one way or the other about RW (but I did love her in Walk the Line) but this looks really, really good! When does it open?
I only feel somethig because of the potential Cheryl Strayed’s out there I may encounter who didn’t take how unprepared she was to heart before embarking on their own Wild journey.
Otherwise, I just find Reese’s southern fried girl next door persona fake.
Surprised no one mentioned Vanity Fair- I absolutely loved that movie, and thought Reese did a good job in it. Funnily enough, re-watched Water for Elephants yesterday, and I can acknowledge Reese was prob too old to play Marlena, still enjoyed that movie as well. I haven’t read Wild, but will prob go see the movie.
I love Vanity Fair, too! Love it! Reese was great in that.
I loved this book, and I can’t wait to see the movie, no matter who is playing Cheryl. I don’t really have an issue with Reese playing her, but yeah, she is a little older than Cheryl was. Maybe in the movie they will make her character older though.
let me say it again: Jean-Marc Vallee is a mediocre director and definitely did not deserve the praise he got for DBC
meh, won’t wanna check this one out