After years of trying to push the idea through the thickets of the development forest, Robert Redford is finally close to turning Bill Bryson’s comic memoir** A Walk In The Woods** into a film. Emma Thompson, Kristen Schaal and Nick Offerman have now signed on to co-star.
Redford, who had at one point considered picking up the megaphone himself, is instead letting Ken Kwapis handle the directorial chores, with Michael Arndt providing the adaptation. The actor will star in the film alongside Nick Nolte, with the story following their haphazard attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. The book is entirely hilarious, making this film a likely change from Redford's recent, more serious adventures in All Is Lost.
Nothing has been revealed about Thompson, Schaal or Offerman’s roles in the film, but we’re just glad to see that some smart casting choices have been made. If we were guessing, Schaal would make an excellent Mary, a fellow hiker who briefly joined the intrepid twosome and irritated the hell out of them. Kwapis, who last made whale pic Big Miracle, kicked off shooting the new film today.
Thompson, a recent recipient of a Jameson Empire Award, is on screens now in** The Love Punch**. She’ll also be seen in Men, Women & Children, period drama Effie Gray and terrorism thriller Survivor. Schaal is a regular contributor to The Daily Show and will be in comedy drama** Lost In Austin**. Offerman, the man behind Ron Effing Swanson on Parks & Recreation, has a role in Terrence Malick’s** Knight Of Cups** and will return to sarcastically castigate Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 22 Jump Street, which is out on June 6.