SEAN PENN - DEAD ADVENTURER ALMOST COST PENN MOVIE DREAM

A dream almost cost SEAN PENN his new movie when the real-life subject of INTO THE WILD visited his mother in her sleep to tell her not to let the Oscar winner tell his story. Penn had almost agreed the film rights with tragic adventurer Chris MCCandless' parents when the dead traveller appeared to his mum Billie one night. MCCandless, whose story of survival in Alaska was turned into Jon Krakauer's bestseller Into The Wild, told his mother he didn't want the film to be made. Penn says, "I said to her then - and I meant it - that if I didn't respect dreams I wouldn't make movies, but that I would never lose a hunger for it; if anything changed, whether it was in a week, a month, a year or 10 years to let me know. Ten years later, I got the call." Penn immediately began working on the screenplay to his new movie and asked MCCandless' sister Carine to help him.