Published August 5, 2009 07:00PM
It’s probably the greatest outdoor mystery of all time. Could George Mallory and Andrew Irvine have reached the summit of Everest first? It’s been 85 years since they died in the attempt–about time Hollywood got on the ball and turned it into a feature film.
Looks like Sony is close to picking up a pitch based on the 2009 novel, Paths of Glory, by Jeffery Archer, devoted to Mallory’s life.
Although Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are credited with the first summit of the mountain in 1953, theorists have always speculated that it’s possible that Mallory and Irvine made it first in 1924. The mystery deepened even further when Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999 by Conrad Anker near the North Face by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition. Although his body was found, a picture of Mallory’s wife, that he kept with him and claimed that he would place on the summit of the mountain never was.
Also never found were the body of Irvine or the infamous camera, which Mallory supposedly carried with him. If it’s ever discovered, the camera might contain film that could be developed, potentially rewriting history…and the screenplay.
—Anthony Cerretani
Source: Hollywood Reporter