Robert Redford is popping up everywhere these days. A few days ago we learned he would be gracing CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and now e having him going the indie route for a movie with director Richard Linklater.
According to The LA TImes, Linklater and Redford will adapt Bill Bryson’s bestselling memoir A WALK IN THE WOODS. The writings of Bill Bryson are incredibly popular due to the author’s witty style and manner of turning common subjects into great reading. Here is a nice summary of the book:
A comic tale with travel overtones, “Walk” involves two boyhood friends who go their separate ways and come back later in life for an outdoor adventure. In Bryson’s tome, the writer and his pseudonymously named friend Stephen Katz try to walk the Appalachian Trail, in the process making sly observations about the world around them and their own lives.
The story sounds like it could turn into a very generic buddy comedy, but hopefully Linklater keeps Bryson’s tone and style for a less formulaic film. Nick Nolte will star opposite Redford as Stephen Katz. The trio of Nolte, Redford, and Linklater bring together quite a bit of experience both in front and behind the camera. Redford has shepherded smaller films via his Sundance Film Festival for years, but this will be the smallest scale movie he has acted in for a long time. This could be a very unique project for all involved. I look forward to hearing more as it develops.
Redford can next be seen in THE COMPANY YOU KEEP which opens on April 5, 2013 while Linklater’s BEFORE MIDNIGHT opens on May 24, 2013.