Playing author Cheryl Strayed’s emotionally generous mother Bobbi in “Wild” has generated Best Supporting Actress Oscar talk for Laura Dern, previously nominated for the lead actress Academy Award for her turn in 1991’s “Rambling Rose.”
The film featuring Reese Witherspoon was based on Strayed’s memoir, which documents her confrontation of her troubled past — including drug use, divorce and the devastating loss of her mother — during a 1,100-mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.
“My heart was cracked open — just like anyone who’s had the pleasure of reading her words,” Dern said of reading the novel, which was adapted by “About a Boy” author Nick Hornby, at TheWrap‘s Award Series screening on Tuesday night at the Landmark Theater in Los Angeles.