After reading the book, Sean Penn wanted to adapt the story into a film. The book tells the real story of Christopher McCandless, a 24-year-old American who gave away his savings, abandoned most of his possessions and traveled across North America before eventually heading alone into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. Penn approached McCandless’s parents for permission to make the film but they initially refused, still grieving their son and uncertain about a movie being made about his life. Penn r