The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a daunting 4,264km (2,650mile) hiking and equestrian trail that stretches from Mexico to Canada, taking in the Sierra Nevada ranges and Mojave Desert along the way. It’s a lonely trek – although these days, it’s rather more populated than it once was, and in recent times, the trail has hosted thousands of hiking women. Their presence is attributed to the Wild Effect.
Ever since Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, a hugely popular memoir by Cheryl Strayed, hit bookshelves in 2012, readers have been inspired to follow in the author's steps.
In 1995, Strayed undertook the PCT as a way to banish her inner demons. Traumatised by the early death of her mother, the lately divorced recovering heroin addict had a fair few demons to tackle.
Fans of the book will be relieved to hear that its central message has made it to the big screen untouched: “What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t do anything differently than I had done? What if I’d actually wanted to fuck every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn’t have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?”
This oft-quoted passage spoke to many readers, including Reese Witherspoon, who optioned Wild before it was even published.
Emotionally true
"I was so moved by the idea that it's okay to forgive yourself," says Witherspoon, who plays Cheryl Strayed in the new film. "As an artist, you want and hope to work on something profound. And Wild covered so many big themes and life issues: grief and loss, sex and drugs, and saying goodbye to someone you love.
“It was so emotionally honest. Cheryl talked about things like she was talking to one of her closest friends.”
I suspect I could watch and listen to Reese Witherspoon talk all day. Her girlish voice puts an extra “tr” in trills. Her blinks seem almost as purposeful and carefully coordinated as her words. She has a strangely commanding presence that belies her delicate features.
The daughter of an otolaryngologist and a professor of neonatal nursing, Witherspoon is frequently identified as one of Hollywood's smartest inhabitants. A go-getter, she has been involved in production since 2001 when her Type A Films imprint (named for her earliest nickname, Little Miss Type A) co-produced the musical-in-waiting, Legally Blonde.
During her 20s, the Louisiana-born star took the box office by storm as America's sweetheart (Cruel Intentions, Sweet Home Alabama). By 2007, she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. But, long before her Oscar-winning turn as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, Witherspoon had equally sought out literary (The Importance of Being Earnest, Vanity Fair) and meatier (Pleasantville, American Psycho) roles.
Her new production house, Pacific Standard, was founded with Australian producer Bruna Papandrea (Milk, Warm Bodies), and has a very specific remit. In 2012, over a series of meetings with high-ranking studio executives, Witherspoon (38) found that only one studio had a project for a female lead over the ripe old age of 30. There were additional worries about suitable movie-role models for her teenage daughter, Ava.
“I started the production company because I was seeing such a deficit of strong female leads,” says the actor (she didn’t appear in a non-animated film in 2008 and 2009 because she couldn’t find a single script she liked).
“I was angry at first when I was talking to studios. And then I thought: No, I have no right to be angry. I’ve always effected change in my own life. All I have to do is get busy and build a skill set that I’ve already watched other people build. I’m interested in finding characters and stories that have wrinkles and dents and imperfections. I’ll find them.”
She’s hardly unique in this respect: plenty of actors have founded vanity production houses in the hope of making Hollywood classier, or simply to develop big fat juicy roles for themselves.
But Witherspoon has long been synonymous with a strong work ethic. She seldom has time to watch her own films: “They’re not for me,” she says. “They’re for other people.”
Being busy
She has been the global ambassador for Avon Cosmetics since 2007 and is chair of the Avon Foundation, a charity that focuses on breast-cancer research and the prevention of domestic violence. She serves on the board of the Children's Defence Fund. In 2013, she recorded Somethin' Stupid with Michael Bublé.
This year she’ll open Draper James, a retail store specialising in bed- and bath-related products. And then there’s the Oscar, the Bafta, the three children . . .
“It takes a certain persistence and tenacity,” she smiles.
Pacific Standard has made the biggest splash in the industry since George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh founded the short-lived but impactful Section Eight Productions in 2000. Come February 22nd, expect to see Witherspoon double-jobbing at the Academy Awards as the producer of Gone Girl and the star and producer of Wild.
She had no problem stepping aside for Rosamund Pike on Gone Girl: "Ego," she notes, "is the death of creativity."
The actor has described herself as a "big dork who reads books all the time". Today, she can't stop smiling when she talks about Wild or indeed, Lorrie Moore's much-lauded short story collection, Birds of America. "I've always been a voracious reader. It's just that now, for the new production company, I read more purposefully."
It can't hurt that she also knows how to assemble a crack team. Wild is directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club), is based on a screenplay by Nick Hornby and co-stars Laura Dern.
“I didn’t need to sell it to anybody,” she says. “Because I optioned it with my own money.” It turned out to be a canny business decision.
“None of us knew when I optioned the book that four months later the reviews would be beyond any reviews I’ve ever read. Or that Oprah would restart her book club because she felt so inspired by it. It has been extraordinary to see its effect on people.”
Witherspoon was heavily involved in all aspects of the production, right down to scouting locations. For all that engagement with the project, the actual shoot brought new surprises every day.
“Jean-Marc wanted me to have no familiarity with hiking or camping,” she says. “So I was allowed to look at the props but I wasn’t allowed to touch them or play with them.
“When you see me trying to light the camp stove and kicking it in frustration, I’m really kicking it. Because I didn’t know what to do. And when I’m setting up the tent, he filmed me setting up for two hours while I punctured it. It added an authenticity to it. I really was a novice.”
Hadn’t she ever been camping before? “Not since I was 12. And I haven’t been alone since the 1990s.”
Walking the walk
And then there was the walking. Left foot, right foot: how hard can it be? “The physical aspects were very difficult,” she says. “For everyone. Our cinematographer hung off the side of a cliff with a 40-pound camera. People walked through rivers with equipment on their head. I got to work one day and the crew said: ‘You see up at the top of this rock, there’s, like, a little dot? That’s Jean-Marc. And you’re going to walk to him.’ I had thought about going hiking after the shoot. But by the end I was so exhausted.”
Witherspoon's earthy performance heralds a new phase in her career. This year, she'll pop up in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, Disney's Wish List, the action-comedy Don't Mess with Texas, and a movie adaptation of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. She will also work with director Alexander Payne for the first time since 1999's Election.
“I’ve never needed to walk out of my life like Cheryl did,” says Witherspoon. “Every movie- making experience is a new set in a new place with 100 people I didn’t know before. It’s always a journey.”
Wild opens today
