Viggo Mortensen May Hit 'The Road'

Image credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP

VIGGO MORTENSEN

A rep for Viggo Mortensen confirms that the Lord of the Rings star is in early talks to star in the big-screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's best-selling, Oprah-approved novel The Road. The story, about a man and his young son traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world, is being adapted by Joe Penhall (Enduring Love). Aussie John Hillcoat, who helmed last year's down-under Western The Proposition, will direct.

In April, Variety reported that the producers, Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, were waiting to cast a star in the role of the father before seeking a distributor. But signing Mortensen may require some tricky scheduling since the actor, who currently stars in David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises and is next set to head to New Mexico to shoot the Ed Harris-directed Appaloosa, recently told EW, ''I'm a busy person.''