"A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson...

anyone that's read this book, have you noticed they are making it into a movie? With Robert Redford cast as the lead? Thoughts???

One of the funniest reads ever, certainly the funniest book on backpacking. Didn't know about the film and Redford seems decades past being the lead(?), but what do I know? He could be a colorful local.

Why not James Franco? His arm grew back.

Cheers,

This book has been around long enough that we've discussed it at length a few times before. As for the movie, many are proposed for each one that is made and released, but even if it were to reach the theaters I think I would pass on it.

The best things about it, in my opinion, are tied as much to the voice of the author as to the content of the story, and that voice can only be brought into the movie by voiceover narration - which should be used sparingly, if at all. Quite a few of the virtues of the book are in its digressions into side subjects and AT history and I can't see a natural way to bring these into the dialogue, either.

So, it would probably make a funny movie, but it would also be a substantial reduction of a very funny book.

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni57158105/

According to The Wrap, Nick Offerman, Kristen Schaal and Emma Thompson have joined indie drama A Walk In The Woods in undisclosed roles. Already set to star Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, the film is an adaptation of Bill Bryson’s best-selling memoir of the same name, and is being directed by Ken Kwapis from a script by Michael Arndt.

A Walk In The Woods will have Redford playing Bryson, who humorously chronicled his attempt to walk the 2000-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine with a friend (Nolte), in an attempt to “re-discover America” after spending twenty years in Britain. The film is a passion project of Redford’s, as evidenced by the decade-long attempt at getting it made.

Just another of those many movies that a lot of people claim they want to see but for which nobody wants to put up the money.

i wasn't that enamored of the book and will certainly pass on the movie if it ever gets made.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As it was a gift, it was not traditionally the type of book i would find myself reading but it has turned me on to a new genre. I have to admit I am nervous about seeing this movie - morbid curiosity dictates the need to compare. Much like a train wreck...I know I am not going to like what I see, but I have to look anyway.

Almost every example of book turned movie has been a major disappointment, with the largest departure being the Jason Bourne series by Robert Ludlum. However, the Lord of the Rings series as well as the Hannibal series have proven that some movie productions will remain true to their literary counterpart. It is these examples that leave me with a small glimmer of hope that this movie will not disappoint. But I've been wrong before...

A real "laugh out loud" book, but I can't see Redford as the lead. Needs to be a frumpy writer type like Bryson. I've read pretty much everything he's published and Redford just doesn't fit the part.

Redford may not fit the part of frumpy writer, but he's the one who owns the movie rights, put together the deal, assembled the financing, and whose name on the marquee makes the film "bankable", so he gets to play the part if he wants to.

I agree with you OM. I thought the book was stupid. I would rather read a book by someone who planned a successful trip. There could still be plenty of humorous stuff to write about. Rather than laugh, I mostly cringed at the irresponsible messages that the book sends to novice backpackers.

The point of the book was not about backpacking. He could have written about roller skating and done the same thing. It was written to be humorous, not serious. Because it was supposedly about backpacking the non backpackers think that we should enjoy it. No necessarily so.

I enjoy most of his books but this book I found offensive because it treated what I view as a serious subject as a thing to be ridiculed. Dumping junk along the trail is not funny. He did make some good points however about government incompetence. I would not picket his house with protest signs but he could have done better. He gave a negative view of backpackers.

yeah....but still....

I felt the book was of a guy who felt the need to say I did it even though a larger part of his trekking involved yellow blazes..I was not impressed with the book and won't go see the movie..imo "Anicinabe"

I don't know the book, but Redford did "A River runs through it" in a fashion that was relatively true to the heart of the short story. In fact, the author refused many offers for the screen rights before accepting Redford and made him promise "not to F#$K it up".

Redford's challenge for me is to not trigger continuous thoughts of "That's not how Jeremiah Johnson would have done it!"

Actually, the key casting decision is who plays Katz? Nolte isn't who I envision either, but might prove an inspired choice because he's half-nuts already. I think Louis C.K. would have been perfect--flinging food cans and gear off that mountain.

Cheers,

Hey Rick - I like the Louis C.K. idea. Although, while reading the book in my mind's eye I imagined Frank Caliendo mixing in some of his impressions along the way.

Geez, I just re-watched "Horse Whisper" that has to be a couple decades old and Redford already looked old-as-sin in that. I'm think for Bryson, why not Jack Black in his "comeback" role.

I. HATE. JACK. BLACK. He could not act his way out of a cardboard box. Sorry for the rant, but you touched a nerve...hehe

I have to admit that I find Bryson's writing really tedious. With a few brief moments of bright humor.
I read In a Sunburned Country on my way to Australia, and I'd heard great things about it, how funny it is, etc., and I really WANTED to love it. I had a hard time getting through the book.
I read part of A Walk in the Woods on my dad's recommendation, but it was more of the same.

So the good news is Jack Black won't be in the movie, but OAS (old as sin) Nick Nolte is. Out on Labor Day:

Based on that trailer, it looks like maybe they had a decent script doctor to figure out how to adapt this to make a halfway decent movie of it.

I was skeptical when I heard of this project and still am to some extent, but now I'll be willing to read some reviews. I don't expect it to resemble actual thru-hiking or even resemble any kind of backpacking I'm familiar with, but it might just resemble entertainment, which is about the best you can expect from Hollywood.

OK - time for a quick "soap box moment". What major Hollywood movies even come close to a true depiction of thru-hiking? I guess my point is a book is written for entertainment, same as a movie (ignoring the bigger purpose making money). As a self-proclaimed NON hard core hiker, I ask those that are hard core about it if they really have to take the topic so seriously as to vehemently refuse to go see a movie because it won't fairly represent the true nature of hiking.

I just sat and watched "Wild" over the weekend and as an amateur hiker, even I spotted dozens of mistakes she made that an experienced outdoors-person (notice the political correctness there!) never would. But I still managed to get through the movie and recognize it for what it is...a movie. It entertained me for 2 hours, more so than a tax audit or root canal, less so than an all you can eat chinese buffet, but it still entertained me. It achieved it's purpose. Therefore, I don't regret the $5 I spent to rent it on demand because for those 2 hours, I wasn't worrying about my kids (they were asleep), I wasn't thinking about work, I was just relaxing and relating to a movie...with an occasional day dream of me being out there too...

that is all...moment over...

"dreaming of being out there, too" - maybe "with Reese Witherspoon,,,,"? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

You're right. Take this book for what it is.

As a book about backpacking, I loved "The Man Who Walked Through Time" but hated "A Walk in the Woods."

As humor, "The Man Who Walked Through Time" fails; "A Walk in the Woods" is funny (but not funny enough to earn a permanent place on my bookshelf.)

Take them for what they are.

Certainly none do, or at least I would be very surprised.

I didn't see the "Wild" movie as I didn't enjoy the book. Bryson doesn't portray "normal" long distance hiking either, but at least he's entertaining! I'm looking forward to seeing this movie.

I think that requiring Hollywood to portray any topic in a totally realistic fashion would limit you to a pretty small set of movies to watch. Most things that get dramatized in movies or books are, in real life, generally (a lot) more mundane.

Who cares about a movie! I would rather read the journals written by someone like you, BrianLe. I really enjoyed your account of your CDT adventure. I would not call a successful thru-hike mundane! Sure, there are mundane times, but overall, it is quite unique.

The thing about "Wild" is that she was a pretty lame backpacker, but we all started out lame at some point, I think. Personally, I have moved on from being lame but who knows about her, I'm not sure she ever picked up a backpack again.
What I did find moving (and I realize there are those who don't agree with me) is that her personal story was so intense. She sank so deep in the abyss: Losing her mom, her despair and self-destruction, etc. I thought the book conveyed that very well. For anyone to cope with it by putting on a backpack and hiking 400 miles when you don't know crap about it, I found very profound. As a how-to guide or as a depiction of the glories of the mountains and nature, well, it was sadly lacking (especially the movie, which looked like it was filmed entirely next to a road). But I didn't read or watch it for its depiction of backpacking, because no book or movie can ever hold a candle to one's own personal experience out in nature.
Now I have to put my pitch in for what I personally think is maybe the best book about long distance hiking I have ever read : "The Snow Leopard" by Peter Matthiessen. Wow! Double Wow!! A story, again, of terrible and tragic loss, and of a trip to save oneself, into the wild and glorious mountains. But much better written and much more truly epic and inspiring than "Wild". Makes me want to go deep into the mountains of Nepal and deep into myself.

I'm late to this thread, but I read the book twice and saw the movie once. I always pictured Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church in the roles as I read the book. If you ever saw the film Sideways you may see what I mean as the relationship was spot on to the one in A Walk in the Woods.

What could have been. ...