(UTV | COLOMBO) – Ewan McGregor, “Kingsman” alum Mark Strong and “Outlander” star Sam Heughan have joined the cast of filmmaker Doug Liman’s “Everest,” a film about George Mallory’s attempts to summit the mountain which has been setup at HanWay Films.
In 1921, just after the first World War, Mallory (McGregor) is tasked with the challenge to scale Mount Everest and finds himself going up against his rival, Australian George Finch (Heughan) in a test to see who is going to reach the summit first.
Strong plays Arthur Hinks, the famed astronomer, geographer and member of the Royal Geographic Society. Mallory participated in three failed expeditions to reach the summit, vanishing on the third one in 1924 with his body not recovered until three-quarters of a century later in 1999.
It has been theorised Mallory may have been the first to make it to the top and then died on the way back down. Ultimately it was Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who are recorded as the first to successfully reach the summit in 1953.
Jennifer Klein will produce and filming is expected to begin in early 2022.