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Pearl Jam maestro Eddie Vedder is teaming up with writer-director Sean Penn for the new film Into the Wild, based upon the John Krakauer book.Word on the street is Vedder has written an entire album worth of tunes, essentially amounting to his first foray into solo album territory. The soundtrack and songs inspired by the movie will drop on September 18, and Penn’s movie will be released theatrically on September 21.

This is not the first time Vedder has appeared on a soundtrack for a Sean Penn film. It’s happened twice already for Dead Man Walking and I Am Sam.

What actually strikes me about this news is that someone is adapting the Krakauer book “Into the Wild.” The story of Chris McCandless is a fascinating one. He essentially leaves his life of priviledge behind, embarking on a solo journey throughout the United States. He meets an untimely death after trekking to the Alaskan wilderness.

Emile Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless and it appears that Vedder may have a small role in the film, which was shot primarily in the Seattle area. Vedder previously appeared in Cameron Crowe’s 1992 flick Singles. He was the drummer for Matt Dillon’s band Citizen Dick.

Anyway, it’s kinda exciting to see just how Sean Penn adapts the book because one of the interesting things about the 1996 book was that Krakauer didn’t make a judgement on McCandless. There’s absolutely no slanting his opinion on whether he felt McCandless was a moron for wandering unprepared into the Alaskan wilderness or if he was inspired by the courage of McCandless’s overall journey. It’s that old axiom: reckless idiot versus idealistic adventurer.

If you talk to ten people who’ve read the book you’ll get a a mixed bag reaction on their opinion. Curious on how Sean Penn handles this. . .

Check out this EW interview with actor Emile Hirsch on shooting the movie. And below you can check out the trailer for the film.