Robert Redford is busy getting some exercise with his role in A Walk In The Woods, which is filming now. But he has his eye on something even more adventurous for a potential future project, planning to produce an adaptation of Peter Shelton’s book **Climb To Conquer.
The 2003 tome, subtitled The Untold Story Of World War II’s 10th Mountain Division Ski Troop, peels back the covers on a true account of the American Army’s victory in the Italian mountains. A squad of soldiers scaled the treacherous Riva Ridge and conquered a German position that had been considered impervious. The action helped the Allies break a stalemate in Italy.
Despite this, the division is hardly the best known in World War II history. Cobbled together in the late 1930s from athletes, college scholars and officer candidates, it was the last to enter the European war theatre and suffered the highest number of casualties per day of combat. The surviving members included the likes of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman.
Redford has 300: Rise Of An Empire writer Kurt Johnstad in talks to script the adaptation and he’ll then decide whether he wants to direct it rather than just produce. While there’s no set date for it yet, A Walk In The Woods should arrive next year.