Renner, a Modesto native and son of CSU Stanislaus Senior Director of Retention Services Lee Renner, will perform the reading with Mayer at 12:30 p.m. in the Flora and Bernell Snider Recital Hall. The program is free and open to the public.
“Into the Wild,” a non-fiction best-seller written by Jon Krakauer and adapted for a movie of the same title in 2007, was selected as the University’s summer reading assignment as part of the freshman orientation requirement. The book is about the adventures of Christopher McCandless who died in a wilderness area of Alaska in 1992. Opening with the discovery of McCandless’ body inside an abandoned bus, the story retraces his travels during the two years he was reported missing after graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, cutting off communication with his family, and discarding his possessions.
Renner, 36, has enjoyed major success since making the transition from the theatre to television and the big screen where he has compiled a long list of credits. A chillingly low-key performance as a true-life murderer and cannibal in the movie “Dahmer” earned Renner an Independent Spirit Award Best Actor nomination and paved the way for other major movie roles. He starred opposite Charlize Theron as her nasty boss Bobby Sharp in the 2005 hit “North Country” after teaming with Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson in the 2003 summer hit “S.W.A.T.” Renner starred with Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck in the 2007 film “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” and recently completed filming for “The Hurt Locker,” in which he plays the troubled leader of an Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal team in Iraq.
The Summer Reading Program assignment is aimed at providing a common intellectual experience for incoming students to help jump start their University experience, improve their connection with the campus, and contribute to their future academic success.