Reese Witherspoon shares first picture of herself on the set of Wild as it's revealed Laura Dern has been cast as her mother

It’s set to be one of her most demanding roles yet. 
But Reese Witherspoon is delighted to be hard at work on the set of Wild, which tells the story of a woman who sets out alone on a 1,100-mile hike to get over a failed marriage and the death of her mother. 
The 37-year-old actress shared a picture of herself on her WhoSay account, in character as Cheryl Strayed, upon whose memoir, Wild: A Journey From Lost To Found, the movie is based.

 

‘Here's first pic of me as Cheryl Strayed in WILD. So excited to play @cherylstrayed in a movie!’ Reese wrote. 

Strayed posted the same picture to her own Twitter account and wrote, ‘The first photo of Reese Witherspoon as me in 1995! Crazy beautiful amazing to see this. @RWitherspoon’. 

In the photograph the blonde actress wears a white T-shirt and carries a large backpack with a sleeping back and various other gear attached.

The movie started filming last week in Oregon.

Co-producer Reese read the manuscript and bought the film rights before the book was even published and enlisted British author Nick Hornby to pen the script.

Jean-Marc Vallée is directing the movie, which is slated for a 2014 release.

Wild! Reese Witherspoon is currently filming Wild,which tells the story of a woman who sets out alone on a 1,100-mile hike to get over a failed marriage and the death of her mother

Reese previously told The Sun about the adaptation: 'Nick's innate blend of humanity and humour are a perfect match for Cheryl's raw emotional memoir.
‘I look forward to collaborating with both of these talented writers to create a film full of honesty, adventure and self- discovery.'
Nick added in a statement: 'I loved Cheryl Strayed's memoir. It's moving, funny, painful and brave, and the moment I'd finished it I wanted someone to let me have a go at adapting it, because it was clear to me that it could make a wonderful movie.'

Nine years: Although there are only nine years between them, Laura Dern will play Witherspoon's mother in the movie Wild

It was revealed by Deadline on Friday that Laura Dern, who at 46 is just nine years older than Reese, has been lined up to play the protagonist’s mother.
Cheryl’s memoir, an Oprah's book club favourite, tells the story of her three-month, 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), from the Mojave Desert in Nevada to Washington State via California and Oregon.
The writer was just 26 with little hiking experience but made the undertaking after being overwhelmed with grief following the death of her mother to breast cancer four years before.
She also dabbled in drugs and had an unsuccessful marriage but her long lonely hike along the PCT helped her to recover.

Boost: Cheryl Strayed, pictured with her family and Oprah Winfrey, got a boost in book sales when her memoir was featured on Oprah's book club