How Reese Witherspoon and the Women of ‘Wild’ Really Fare in the Great Outdoors
In Wild, Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl Strayed, a wayward woman who sets off to find herself by hiking 1,100 miles up the Pacific Crest Trail. In real life, the Oscar winner refuses to guess how far she’s actually ventured by foot — but let’s just say it’s not anywhere remotely close.
"For me, I’ve been on, like, a four-day backpacking trip when I was 12," says Witherspoon, flanked by Strayed (whose memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail the film is based on) and co-star Laura Dern at a recent press day for the buzzed-about film.
Even Strayed nudged Witherspoon for specifics on how far she traversed. “Probably not much, I was 12,” Witherspoon says. “But I remember feeling very outdoorsy.”
However, Dern, who plays Cheryl’s mother in flashback scenes, has some true-blue outdoors cred. “My parents sent me to survivalist camp when I was 9,” she says. “Because they wanted me to experience nature, because I grew up in L.A. I hiked very far. They left us without food so we could fend for ourselves.” Now that’s wild.
Wild opens in limited engagement Friday.
