Reese Witherspoon to Star in Adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's Memoir WILD

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The bestselling memoir, WILD, by Cheryl Strayed is set for a big-screen adaptation - with fellow novelist Nick Hornby penning the script, and Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon starring. Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea will produce for River Road Entertainment. Deadline first broke the news on the adaptation this evening.

WILD is, "a powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she'd lost everything when her mother died young of cancer. Her family scattered in their grief, her marriage was soon destroyed, and slowly her life spun out of control. Four years after her mother's death, with nothing more to lose, Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker--indeed, she'd never gone backpacking before her first night on the trail...Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her."

After Witherspoon pushed for the project through her Production Company Pacific Standard, she hand-picked Hornby to write the script.

“Nick’s innate blend of humanity and humor are a perfect match for Cheryl’s raw emotional memoir,” Witherspoon told Deadline. “I look forward to collaborating with both of these talented writers to create a film full of honesty, adventure and self discovery.”

No additional casting or a theatrical release date have yet to be announced, but BWW Movies World will keep you updated as more details emerge.