“You have to have some real solitude”: A Conversation with Cheryl Strayed, Author of Wild [Part II]

By Ethan Gilsdorf

What follows is Part II of Ethan Gilsdorf’s conversation with Cheryl Strayed, author of the memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Her book has been adapted into the recently-released film Wild. Read Part I of this interview here.
Ethan Gilsdorf: The journey you describe in your book Wild is an external journey: You go somewhere physically. But you go somewhere emotionally or psychically or spiritually, too. There’s a way to do that on the page via internal monologue. How do you do it on the screen without having long and ponderous voice overs? I felt director Jean-Marc Vallée and screenwriter Nick Hornby solved it using flashbacks, and having them play out partly in your character’s head, as things you Reese Witherspoon is saying to herself while she’s walking along.

Cheryl Strayed: That was obviously the biggest challenge. What literature does, I think best, is interiority. That’s just why I love a book so much, why I think so many of us do. You actually get to inhabit another human’s mind and body. As long as that writer does the job of physically letting you all the way in, you get to see the world through someone else’s perspective. And even feel it. So many readers have said to me, “My feet hurt while I was reading Wild.” Cinema has this other challenge of, how does an actor convey what he or she is thinking simply through facial expression or posture, the many different things that actors do. It’s difficult. And it’s a challenge, when transferring that kind of book to the screen. First of all, I think that Nick really had a vision when it came to the way the story would be structured. In the book, you’ll notice that chapter one is me telling you about my childhood and the death of my mother.

Gilsdorf: Right, right.

Strayed: Because my mother’s death was so much the catalyzing incident in my life. That led me both to the darkest places, but also led me to the trail. Nick decided right away not to begin with the death of the mother. If you see how the film goes, it’s really a slow kind of unfurling.

Gilsdorf: That’s right, that’s kept hidden from us. You don’t really know what’s going on. We see your character engaging in some risky behavior and bad things are happening, but we don’t know that your mom is dying.

Strayed: Right. The death of the mother. You see images of Laura Dern [who plays my mother’s character], you see things that you can’t quite explain yet. And then it builds to her death, which doesn’t take place in the film until at least midway through. So I think, first of all, Nick made the structural change. Which was helpful. Instead of a catalyzing incident, which is the way it works in my narrative, in the screenplay it works as a mystery, you know? What’s the story? What’s the story with this woman? And why do we keep seeing these pieces of her mother? And that story, that mystery, solves itself.

Gilsdorf: What was it like working with Jean-Marc Vallée?

Strayed: Jean-Marc, he’s such a kindred spirit with me. Aesthetically, artistically, we have a very similar interpretation of the way memory works. From our very first conversation, I was so impressed with how he wanted to try to get as close to the sort of gritty kind of truth of the way memory functions in our lives and in our bodies, the way we’re haunted by change. Instead of coming back to these long flashbacks --- sometimes there are flashbacks that are full scenes --- but many times, there are just these montages, as you said. And so I just think that he’s a really interesting filmmaker, that he’s trying to get closer to the truth, and in showing us those flashbacks, in a more memory form.

Gilsdorf: How do you feel about all of this, the Hollywood life? I know you’ve had quite a ride with the success of the book, but now with the film, I imagine it’s at whole other level.

Strayed: Yeah, it’s crazy. Just what happened with the book, in and of itself, has been such a thrill, and shocking really. As a writer you’re always hearing all of these kinds of horror stories about what could happen to your book. But I’ve just had a wonderful time. I’ve been very involved with the making of the film, from beginning to end. And every step of the way I’ve been part of the team, making the film. I love the movie. I feel like it very much honors the book.

Gilsdorf: In the process of seeing this book turned into a film, did you find it hard reconciling the message of the book, “It’s OK to go find yourself in the outdoors,” which is a very private, natural, bookish, literary experience, with the demands of the Hollywood machine: answering questions for the media, hyping the movie, being on the red carpet?

Strayed: It’s so fascinating. Just as a writer, I’m soaking the experience up. Because I think that everything in a writer’s life informs, I think, the writer’s work. And I’ve had this very unexpected experience of having a front row seat in Hollywood, watching this film be made and then, I’ve been on the red carpet, with the Toronto Film Fest and at the London Film Fest. I’ve done all these things that I just never imagined I would do, and that’s been really fun. I think that I’m just observing a lot. I’ve been treated with such kindness and respect by Reese and Laura Dern, and Jean-Marc Vallée and Nick. All the people who made this film were so good to me. It’s not been a difficult experience, it’s just been a kind of surprising and glorious one.

Gilsdorf: What’s surprised you the most?

Strayed: I will say that the one piece of it that’s been hard is there is a little bit of a game of telephone with the coming of the film. A lot of people have written about me. They’ll say “Cheryl Strayed” and then say what they’re going to say. They haven’t read the book. They haven’t even often seen the film. They glean these headlines and they’ll say things about me that aren’t true. And that’s been hard. Any time anyone writes about me, I can tell if they’ve read the book or not. Because it’s a lot more nuanced than I think some of the headlines might convey.

Gilsdorf: What are you working on? What’s the next project that we can expect to come from your desk or the bookstore?

Strayed: I’ve been writing a bit, and I’ve started two books. One is a novel, one is a memoir. It’s kind of like riding two horses at once. I’m not sure which one is going to be the one that I eventually sink into and write next. But I do know that in 2015, I am going to sink in. As you know you’re a writer. You have to have some real solitude. And not just physical. Psychic solitude. It’s not the quietest moment of my life right now. I’m just riding this wave. And just like any wave, no matter how big the wave is, it always finds its way to shore eventually. I’m just holding on until it gets there.

Gilsdorf: That’s a nice way to put it. Thank you for your time. This has been wonderful.

Strayed: Thank you. Good luck with your writing.

[This interview has been edited and condensed.]

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