Variety reports that Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Elizabeth) has signed to direct a biopic of English explorer George Mallory with Julia Roberts’ Red Om Films and Kevin Townsend’s Science + Fiction producing.
Mallory and his climbing partner disappeared in 1924; they were 800 feet from the summit of Mt. Everest before the clouds closed in.
Set in post-WW1 England, the story chronicles Mallory’s attempts to scale Everest and the toll it takes on his marriage, as the mountain becomes his obsession.
Townsend, Matthew Faulk and Mark Skeet wrote the script.
