Redford to Take "A Walk in the Woods"

With festivities winding down at the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford says he’s ready to take “A Walk in the Woods.”

The Sundance founder told The Associated Press that his next film project is an adaptation of the best-selling 1998 Bill Bryson book about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Redford will produce and star as Bryson. Barry Levinson (”Donnie Brasco,” “Man of the Year”) is expected to direct.

“It’ll be fun,” said Redford. “I don’t know when I’ve read a book that I laughed so loud. Also it’s a chance to take a look at the country. The backdrop is pretty terrific, if you stop to think of all the visuals that are possible as they go along that trail.”

Redford is also planning a film about how Branch Rickey helped Jackie Robinson break into major league baseball in 1947. “What Rickey had to do, what Robinson had to go through, and the partnership they had to form, that’s a story nobody knows. It’s just a fascinating story.”

Redford said he and other festival-goers were shocked and saddened by the news about actor Heath Ledger, who has appeared in two Sundance films: 1997’s “Blackrock” and 1999’s “Two Hands.”

“I just think he was one of those actors that was very, very special because he played so many different kinds of roles, and much of his work was more in the independent area. That’s too young to check out.”

AP Image