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Screenwriter Joe Penhall has been set to adapt "The Road," Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel that was chosen as the latest selection of the Oprah Winfrey book club.

John Hillcoat will direct.

The book was acquired last fall by producers Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz.

Story is about a father who transports his son to safety following a nuclear explosion and battles starving stragglers and marauding packs of cannibals in his way.

Wechsler said his partners put up the coin, and they intend to wait until they have a script and a star to play the father before they look to align the project with a distributor. Wechsler said the timing will not be affected by the Winfrey selection, which generally drives up book sales considerably.

"It's really about casting and making sure we get a script that satisfies the vision as expressed by Cormac in the book," Wechsler said.

The producers and Hillcoat sparked to such Penhall scripts as "Enduring Love" and "The Long Firm."