Everest
Short description
Everest is a survival drama set on the world's highest mountain, following two commercial expeditions that attempt the summit in 1996. One is led by New Zealander Rob Hall, the other by American Scott Fischer. Their clients include experienced climbers and relative novices for whom the mountain is a long-held ambition, and the groups depend on their guides' judgement as they move up through a series of camps in increasingly punishing conditions. As the ascent continues, the weather deteriorates and exhaustion sets in, turning the climb into a struggle to get back down safely.
Baltasar Kormákur directed the film, the seventh of the twelve features he has made to date, working from a screenplay by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy. Jason Clarke plays Hall, with Josh Brolin as Beck Weathers, Jake Gyllenhaal as Fischer, Elizabeth Debicki as Caroline Mackenzie and Keira Knightley as Jan Arnold. The production was a substantial undertaking, costing 55 million USD and shot partly in Iceland, and it returned 203 million USD worldwide, a strong multiple of its budget.
Audience responses were positive rather than enthusiastic: on IMDb it holds 7.1/10 from 246,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.8/10 from 5,356 votes. A film critics' rating of 6.7/10 from 232 reviews places professional assessment close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on the disaster that occurred on Mount Everest in 1996. Ironically, during the filming period, on April 18, 2014, an avalanche occurred in Nepal, resulting in the deaths of 16 people.
- Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) was the first non-Sherpa to summit Everest five times. And his wife, Jan (Keira Knightley), was the second woman from New Zealand to reach the summit of Everest (the first being Lydia Bradey).
- All scenes with Keira Knightley were filmed in 6 days.
- The role of Babu Chiri Sherpa was played by the director Baltasar Kormákur’s 13-year-old son, Stormur Jón Kormákur Baltasarsson.
- This is the first joint film by Walden Media and Universal Pictures.
- Srauinn Sigvaldason could have played a role in this film.
- The production period began on January 14, 2014, in Kathmandu. Scenes were filmed at an altitude of 4877 meters.
- To film the scene on the Senales Glacier, the film crew traveled to the Schnalstal ski resort in northern Italy. The group consisted of 180 people from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Italy, the United States, Iceland, and Nepal. The already difficult filming was complicated by a sudden snowfall, the most intense in the resort's history. At times, the set was completely buried under a meter of snow, which had to be cleared urgently.
- At the beginning of the film, Beck wears a 'Dole/Kemp '96' t-shirt in March. Bob Dole did not choose a running mate until August 1996.
- In 1996, there was only one suspension bridge to the settlement of Namche Bazaar. The second suspension bridge was built after 2000.
- When the team of travelers boards a bus in Nepal in 1996, a song from the film 'In the Mood for Love' (2001) is playing on the radio in the bus.
- The airstrip in the town of Lukla in 1996 was still a dirt strip. It was only paved after 2000.
- The path of the storm, which Doctor Mackenzie draws on the map, changes in size and shape with each shot change.
- After the first avalanche, while Rob and Andy are talking, the amount of snow on Andy’s head changes with each shot change.
- When Anatoly finds Scott’s body, before covering his face with a backpack, it is clearly visible that Jake Gyllenhaal is breathing.
- Some participants in the expeditions whose fates formed the basis of the film later published books detailing their perspective on the events of spring 1996. The most well-known are "Into Thin Air" (1996) by journalist Jon Krakauer and "The Climb" (1997) by professional mountaineer Anatoly Boukreev, co-authored with Weston DeWalt.
- Christian Bale was cast as Rob Hall but left the project to star in "Exodus: Gods and Kings" (2014).
- Some scenes were taken from the documentary film "Everest" (1998).
- Lou Kasischke, one of the survivors of the tragedy and author of the book "After the Wind", served as a consultant on the film.
- The film was shot in the Italian Alps, the Cinecittà studio in Rome, and the Pinewood studio in Britain. Some scenes were filmed at temperatures of -30°C.
- To make the film even more realistic, the producers hired 11 real Sherpas who appeared in the film. The Nepalese had their first experience leaving their homes and traveling to Italy, and then spending some time at the Cinecittà and Pinewood studios.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
