Newman and Redford plan new project

Hollywood's most celebrated big-screen double act may star in a film version of Bill Bryson's book 'A Walk in the Woods'.

May  3 2005

More than 30 years after their last big-screen outing, Robert Redford and Paul Newman may team up again for an adaptation of Bill Bryson's bestseller 'A Walk in the Woods'.

And if that weren't enough glamour for one picture, it looks like Julia Roberts may also play a small role in the movie.

Screen legends Redford and Newman have been looking to reunite for the last 20 years, but it wasn't until they read Bryson's book about his hike across the American wilderness that they truly believed they had found the right story.

Speaking of the project, Redford said: 'That might be something for Paul Newman and me, if we're not too old.'

He then joked: 'That's if Paul can hang on long enough and we can get him on the Appalachian Trail before he gets into a wheelchair!'

The two stars have previously appeared together twice on screen, in the hugely successful 1969 western 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' and then in con classic 'The Sting' in 1973.

'A Walk in the Woods' would see Redford play Bryson as he trekked across the 2,100-mile trail in an effort to stave off a midlife crisis.

Newman would take on the role of Stephen Katz, one of the author's old school friends, who accompanied him some of the way.

And following Newman's discussion of the film at the recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Julia Roberts said she'd love to cameo as Bryson's wife Cynthia, stating: 'I want to be in it and I mean to be in it.'

The film could also be Newman's swan-song, as the star of stage, screen and salad dressing recently revealed that he wants to make one more film before retiring from movies for good.