MUMBAI: Fox Searchlight Pictures has announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to screenwriter Nick Hornby‘s adaptation of Cheryl Strayed‘s bestselling book Wild.

The female-led drama will star Reese Witherspoon and will be produced by her shingle Pacific Standard with Bruna Papandrea and River Road Entertainment‘s Bill Pohlad. Fox Searchlight president Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley said production is slated to begin in late fall once a director is chosen.

An Oprah book selection, the novel focuses on a young woman dismayed by the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother and who decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone. Oscar-nominated Hornsby‘s credits include An Education andHigh Fidelity while Witherspoon received Best Actress for Walk The Line.