Though production has already started, Emma Thompson and Nick Offerman are accompanying Robert Redford and Nick Nolte on A Walk in the Woods.  The film is based on Bill Bryson’s 1998 memoir A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail in which he traversed the long trail – ranging from Maine to Georgia – with his old college roommate Stephen Katz.

Redford and Nolte play Bryson and Katz, respectively, but the roles of Thompson and Offerman have not yet been specified.  Thompson most recently gave a critically acclaimed performance as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, while Nick Offerman lent his voice in The LEGO Movie and continues his tenure as Ron Swanson in TV’s Parks and Recreation.

It is no surprise that the film stars Robert Redford (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), who is also co-producing with Bill Holderman (The Company You Keep, The Conspiritor) of Wildwood Enterprises and Chip Diggins.  Redford, in addition to being an inexorable environmentalist for decades, has a solid resume of movie characters that have already traversed the natural landscape, such as Jeremiah Johnson and the Sundance Kid.  He recently earned critical acclaim for his role in last year’s All is Lost, the minimalist story about a lone elderly man’s survival at sea.  According to Variety, Redford acquired the film rights to Bryson’s book in 2005.

Ken Kwapis – whose last feature, Big Miracle, concerned a family attempting to save a group of whales in the Arctic Circle – seems an apt choice for directing the nature themed film.  Academy Award-winner Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) penned the adapted screenplay.

The film will be released next year.