Christian Bale is eyeing a leading role in Everest, Deadline reports. Baltasar Kormakur (The Deep) is attached to direct the project, based on a disasterous expedition to the famous mountain in 1996.

Set up at Unviersal Pictures and Working Title, Everest is unconnected to Columbia Pictures' Doug Liman project of the same name. Set to star Tom Hardy, that film is set in the 1920s and focuses on George Mallory and his three attempts to become the first man to scale Everest.

Bale most recently starred in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises and can be seen in Terrence Malick's upcoming Knight of Cups and Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace.

Tim Bevan, Liza Chasin, Eric Fellner and Evan Hayes will produce Everest with Randall Emmett and George Furla in talks to co-finance and produce as well.

(Photo Credit: WENN.com)