Edmund Hillary, with the help up Tenzing Norgay, famously became the first man to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, but one can't ignore the efforts that George Mallory made before him. The British mountaineer was the first to ever try and scale the world's tallest mountain, attempting the climb three times before he died doing so in 1924 (disappearing along with climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine and lost until their bodies were discovered in 1999). Now Mallory's story is heading to the big screen and not only does the project have a top notch director set to helm, but also one of the most in-demand actors in the world in negotiations star.
Deadline has learned that Tom Hardy is now talking with Sony Pictures about starring in Everest, a new biopic about Mallory that Bourne Identity filmmaker Doug Liman is set to direct. Based on the book Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer (it's not super hard to figure out why they didn't go with that title), the film's script is being written by Sheldon Turner, best known for co-writing the Oscar nominated screenplay for Jason Reitman's Up In The Air. Liman, who last directed Fair Game in 2010, is planning to make the movie after he is finished with the upcoming Tom Cruise sci-fi action film All You Need Is Kill (which is currently in production).
Should he sign on the project will join a long list of in-development titles that Hardy has on his plate including George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road (which is currently filming); The Long Red Road with Michael Shannon; his 1960s biker gang movie (which he is also producing); and the Al Capone drama Cicero.
