In the new movie, A Walk in the Woods, travel writer, Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) convinces his wife (Emma Thompson) to let him hike the Appalachian Trail. The peaceful walk he hopes to take is anything but peaceful once he agrees to travel with the only person he can find willing to join him – his estranged friend Katz (Nick Nolte).

Stars Robert Redford and Nick Nolte took a walk down memory lane and recounted the process of getting the movie made and growing older in Hollywood.

Robert, when you first optioned the book, the project was supposed to be for you and Paul Newman. Can you talk about that and then getting Nick involved?

Robert Redford: I’ll keep it short since this about Nick and me. We had had such a great relationship in our first two films [together] and we were looking for a third. A lot of time had passed since The Sting. That was 1973 and Butch Cassidy was 1968. He was looking for something and I was looking for something. When I read the book, I was thinking, ‘is this maybe [the project for us]?’

[Paul’s] a very good guy. He’s very honest and very practical. He said, ‘for this, there may be too big an age difference between us now.’ It’s 14 years. ‘Secondly, physically, I don’t think I can do this.’ So that was the end of that. When I thought it through, it really wouldn’t have worked. Immediately I thought of Nick. The more I thought about it, it felt more right than anything. We’re the same age. We have similar backgrounds.

Can you talk about working together?

Nick Nolte: It was kind of whispered to me. [Robert and I] have the same lawyers. It was whispered to me that Robert might give me a call. He did and we set up a meeting and we talked. I had read the book and it was great. This was still early in the process and rewrites [to the script] needed done.

He called back some time later and said ‘I’m working on another film. Do you remember The Weather Underground?’ [The Weather Underground is a film about an activist group formed in the 1960s named the Weathermen who believed in violent protest.] I was able to play a character in the film and [the 1960s] was a decade that really [influenced] me. Bob gave me great direction. He has great vision and he doesn’t talk a lot [laughs]. The Weathermen went a little far. They killed people. Then I guess it was a good 10 years from when we met until we started [A Walk in the Woods].