Reese Witherspoon to topline “Wild” bestseller adaptation

PanARMENIAN.Net - Fox Searchlight has acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Wild,” the upcoming adaptation of Cheryl Strayed best-selling memoir that will star Reese Witherspoon, TheWrap said.

Witherspoon is producing the project through her Fox-based Pacific Standard with partner Bruna Panadrea and River Road Entertainment’s Bill Pohlad (“The Tree of Life”).

Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity,” “An Education”) adapted Strayed’s New York Times best-seller, which details Strayed’s journey along the Pacific Crest Trail after the dissolution of her marriage and death of her mother. The studio will now search for a director and aims to begin production in the fall.

“We have long been huge fans of this visceral, inspirational and moving personal story with such a strong female perspective,” Fox Searchlight presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley said in a statement. “It has been a dream of the studio to work with Reese Witherspoon and we are thrilled to be partnered with her, Bruna Papandrea, Bill Pohlad and Nick Hornby.”

Witherspoon recently wrapped Imagine Entertainment’s “The Good Lie” and is currently filming Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice.” She is attached to star in “Passengers,” a long-gestating project that would also star Keanu Reeves.

It remains to be seen if this film will impact Witherspoon’s involvement in that project.

Witherspoon praised Fox Searchlight as "an extraordinary company that continually strives to bring original, inspirational films to the marketplace" and said she was "thrilled to collaborate with them on 'Wild.'"