Larry Charles has signed on today to direct Robert Redford and Nick Nolte in an adaptation of Bill Bryson’s best selling memoir A Walk In The Woods. The film will tell the story of an aging travel writer who decides to hike the 2000 mile Appalachian trail, accompanied by an old friend whom he doesn’t quite get along with. What begins as a regular buddy movie becomes something deeper, and the trail slowly comes to represent how they see each other.
The script was written by Michael Arndt, best known for writing Little Miss Sunshine, and Wildwood Enterprises’ Redford and Bill Holderman are producing along with Route One Films’ Chip Diggins.
The ever-humourous Larry Charles had this to say on the whole affair:
Growing up in the wilds of Brooklyn, you can see why I was the natural choice to direct A Walk In The Woods… I didn’t see a tree till I was 27. I’ve pitched a lot of projects, but I’ve never pitched a tent. But A Walk In The Woods is not merely about a hike. It is an epic, intense, absurd journey through our collective past, present and future. A journey outward and inward. A journey into darkness but also into the light. And I am honored and humbled to take that walk with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. Two true bonafide icons of American cinema. Does anyone have bug spray?
Larry Charles is an odd choice, given the very urban nature of his previous work. That said, if anyone can shoot two people just talking to each other, bickering and fighting along the way, and make it funny, it’s Larry Charles. That was Seinfeld all the way.
Production on A Walk in the Woods is set to begin in March. More news as it comes, when it comes.
