Dern: Wild role boosted ego

Laura Dern admits landing her role in Wild was “really good news for her ego”.

The 45-year-old actress portrays the mother of Reese Witherspoon’s character in the film, which is based Cheryl Strayed’s memoir about a 1,100-mile solo hike she undertook in an effort to overcome the problems in her life.

And Laura was ecstatic to have won the part because she initially thought her age would be an issue, due to the fact Reese is only a few years younger than her.

“We all [thought I was too young], which was really good news for my ego. We’re six years apart,” she told Variety, noting popular movie database IMDb’s stats on her date of birth are inaccurate. “Don’t check IMDb, because they are wrong about my age, and I think they are probably wrong about hers too. It’s so insane that everybody goes by IMDb.

“Only by two, but it means a lot. They have that I’m 47. I’m going to be 46, people. I’m really pissed. We’ve got to change that. But anyway, I’m even closer to Reese’s age than people might think if they read IMDb.”

Laura also starred with Shailene Woodley in The Fault in Our Stars.

The characters the star portrays in Wild and The Fault in Our Stars are both impacted by cancer and actress learned a lot about the disease while filming the movies.

“It taught me a lot in terms of research and how little support there is for cancer research,” Laura explained. “But they are such different women, and they are such different stories. And they are both Fox movies. I felt like if the bosses are okay with it, I’m okay with it.”