George Mallory participated in three failed expeditions to reach the summit of Everest. He ultimately vanished on the third attempt in 1924 and his body was not found until three-quarters of a century later in 1999. Now Ewan McGregor will play him in Everest, from Doug Liman and HanWay films according to The Playlist.
It is now thought that Mallory was the first to make it to the top of Everest, and then died on the way back down. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are still recorded by history as being the first to reach the summit but that is now in some dispute.
McGregor, will be joined by Mark Strong (Kingsman, Shazam) and Sam Heughan (Outlander) for the movie. It will be set in 1921, when, just after the first World War, Mallory was challenged to scale the then unclimbed Mount Everest and finds himself going up against his rival, Australian George Finch (Heughan) in a race to see who could climb the unclimbable.
Born in Cheshire in 1886, Mallory was introduced to rock climbing and mountaineering as a student at Winchester College. After graduating from Magdalene College, Cambridge, he taught at Charterhouse School whilst honing his skills as a climber in the Alps and the English Lake District. He served in the British Army during the First World War and fought at the Somme.
After the war, Mallory returned to Charterhouse before resigning to take part in the 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition. In 1922, he took part in a second expedition to make the first ascent of the world’s highest mountain, in which his team achieved a record altitude of 26,980 ft (8,225 m) without supplemental oxygen.
Strong will play famed astronomer Arthur Hinks, a member of the Royal Geographic Society.
Jennifer Klein will produce and filming is expected to begin in early 2022.
