The Fifth Estate may have bombed badly at the US box office last weekend, but Benedict Cumberbart is still very much in demand. That includes by Doug Liman, who wants him for his upcoming film, Everest, according the Deadline.
There are plenty of other hot names in contention, including Joel Kinnaman, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston, Henry Cavill, Luke Evans, Dan Stevens, Matthew Goode, and Jim Sturgess – although it’s not known which of those will actually end up in the film as the legendary George Mallory and his Australian rival George Finch . Tom Hardy was previously attached, but was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
The story is an adaptation of Jeffrey Archer’s non-fiction book Paths of Glory, which is all about explorer George Mallory’s attempt to get into the record books as the first man to reach the top of Mount Everest. The movie is all about Mallory’s obsession with the mountain, as well as his rivalry with fellow climber George Finch.
Mallory and his climbing partner Sandy Irvine failed in two attempts to scale the mountain in 1921 and 1922. They were spotted near the summit on their third attempt in 1924 but nobody knows if they actually made it to the top, as they died on the mountain. Their remains were discovered in 1999 by Mark Anker.
There’s also another movie called Everest in the works, which has Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jason Clarke circling. That one is due to shoot this autumn and is about an infamous incident in 1996, when tragedy struck two separate groups who tried to reach the summit of Mount Everest.