Deadline reports that British actor Tom Hardy is in talks to play George Mallory, the climber who made three attempts in the 1920s to become the first man to scale Mount Everest.
The film, aptly titled Everest, will be directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) after he has finished work on the upcoming Tom Cruise movie All You Need Is Kill. Screenwriter Sheldon Turner (Up In The Air) adapted the story from the book Paths Of Glory, Everest by Jeffrey Archer.
Currently, Tom Hardy is starring as the title character in the George Miller-directed Mad Max: Fury Road. The actor had a big summer this year though, starring in the gangster movie Lawless and playing Batman-villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Of course, unlike Bane, mountain-climber George Mallory was a real-life person whose appearance never prompted people to ask “how does he eat with that thing on his face?”
Mallory’s ultimately unrealized dream of being the first person to climb Mount Everest put him in competition with Australian climber George Finch (who was, interestingly enough, the grandfather of the late Oscar-winning actor Peter Finch). Director Liman is apparently himself a climbing enthusiast, and is consequently drawn to Finch’s story and touching attempt at glory.
What do you think of this news? Do you want to see Tom Hardy play Mallory? Let us know in the comments below.
