Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley announced today that the company has acquired worldwide rights to Oscar-nominated writer Nick Hornby’s (An Education, High Fidelity) adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s NY Times #1 best-seller “Wild,” the book that re-launched Oprah’s Book Club 2.0.
The film will star Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Mud), and will be produced by Pacific Standard’s Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea (Warm Bodies, All Good Things) with River Road Entertainment’s Oscar nominated Bill Pohlad (The Tree of Life, 12 Years a Slave). The film is slated to begin production in the late fall once a director is in place and will be overseen by Fox Searchlight Pictures President of Production Claudia Lewis and SVP of Production David Greenbaum.
“We are so excited to be working with Fox Searchlight to bring ‘Wild’ to the screen. It is an extraordinary company that continually strives to bring original, inspirational films to the marketplace. We are thrilled to collaborate with them on ‘Wild,'” says Witherspoon.
“We have long been huge fans of this visceral, inspirational and moving personal story with such a strong female perspective,” says Utley and Gilula. “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.”
With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. “Wild” powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.
