Buried in an is-he-isn't-he piece about Robert Redford's possible Jackie Robinson biopic (which we mention elsewhere this morning), the LA Times has news that Redford may soon be teaming up with Nick Nolte for Bill Bryson's **A Walk in the Woods.
Bryson's humorous travelogue involves the author and his overweight, recovering alcoholic friend Stephen Katz making laboriously poor progress walking the Appalachian Trail. They wrestle with their equipment and skip large sections, but still manage to hike 500 miles, and the narrative is interspersed with customary Bryson-type musings on American history and ecology, and reconnecting with his homeland after some time living in the UK.
Redford has been attempting to get the film set up since 2005, initially conceiving it as a Butch and Sundance reunion for himself and Paul Newman. Sadly, that's no longer possible of course, but we can hardly think of a better fit for the blow-hard Katz than Nolte.
Chris Columbus was attached to direct at one point, but later moved on, making way for Barry Levinson. Whether Levinson remains on board is unclear: if he does still plan to drag his cameras through Georgia and Virginia, the production will have to wait until he's finished with Gotti.