Sam Worthington and Robin Wright will be taking a break away from the worlds of “Avatar” and “House of Cards” soon to join the ensemble cast of Baltasar Kormákur's “Everest,” Deadline reports.
The Universal Pictures production is based on Jon Krakauer's best-selling book “Into Thin Air” about 1996 Mount Everest disaster, which claimed the lives of eight people attempting to reach the summit in May of that year. It ended up being the single deadliest year in Everest's history as some 15 people died in similar attempts. Principle photography on the picture started in February.
Worthington and Wright will star alongside Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal and John Hawkes as members of two different expeditions.
Kormákur is coming off of the successful actioner “2 Guns” but “Everest” seems to hold more in common with his 2012 Best Foreign Language Film shortlister “The Deep,” which told a different true story of man against the elements.
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Universal has also announced that the film will be released on September 18, 2015, a prime date for a potential Toronto Film Festival debut. Perhaps we'll be discussing later that year during the awards season, given a cast this promising and a premise this baity, to say nothing of the potential to really ignite Kormákur's Hollywood career. The film was also co-written by Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” scribe Simon Beaufoy.
Worthington will next be seen in David Ayer's “Sabotage” with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wright, meanwhile, will next be seen in Anton Corbijn's “A Most Wanted Man” with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.