EMILE HIRSCH

Emile Hirsch had a trailer while filming Into the Wild — he just didn't use it. ''Most places we were going, you just couldn't drive any of the [trucks] there,'' he says. ''So it was about finding a good tree stump when you weren't shooting.'' As Chris McCandless, the college grad whose off-the-map quest led to his death in Alaska, Hirsch successfully embodied a walking paradox: insensitive and stubborn, yet generous and idealistic. Next, Hirsch will star in the anti-Wild: Speed Racer, due next summer. ''I was missing the raw experience of Into the Wild,'' says the 22-year-old. ''But it was a relief there were no bears coming after me.'' —Dave Karger

More? See a Q&A with Emile Hirsch