A film on a grander scale
4:24pm Tuesday 5th February 2008
THE life of a mountaineering hero who grew up Cheshire could be immortalised on the silver screen.
Author Jeffrey Archer has written a screenplay on George Mallory, the son of a rector in Mobberley who attempted to be the first to conquer Mount Everest in 1924 but died on the mountain.
And the former Conservative Party deputy chairman said he has been speaking with two very exciting people' about the film.
Initially, Christian Bale - who is currently Hollywood's Batman - was rumoured to be involved with the project but this was later ruled out by his agent.
Lord Archer wanted to make the movie because he admired Mallory's bravery and has given it the provisional title of Mallory: Walking Off The Map.
"It was a staggering story," said Lord Archer.
"Here was a man so clearly ahead of his competitors."
Renowned producer Harvey Weinstein is thought to be interested in the project and oscar-winner Bruce Beresford, who made Driving Miss Daisy, is set to direct.
It is hoped the scenes will be shot in New Zealand and London within the next two years.
On Lord Archer's website, Beresford said they discussed the film during a dinner party in Australia.
He said: "It's a great script. He researched it brilliantly - I guess he had plenty of time as he was in jail."
Lord Archer, who appeared in Bridget Jones, said he was even considering a cameo appearance in the movie.
Producer Richard Zanuck, who worked on Jaws and recent hit Sweeney Todd, is currently looking for funding.
"The next step is to get the money," said Lord Archer.
"There's no film until then."
Lord Archer was inspired to write the screenplay by his late friend Chris Brasher, who co-founded the London Marathon.
The athlete, who won the Olympic steeplechase gold medal in 1956, said Mallory's life was a better story than Chariots of Fire.
"He was a big Mallory fan and he persuaded me to do it," said the former Conservative Party deputy chairman.
But then Lord Archer was jailed for perjury in 2001 after being convicted of making up a false alibi.
The project had to be put on the backburner but Lord Archer used his two years in prison to read seven books about Mallory who grew up in Mobberley near Knutsford.
Mallory took part in three expeditions to Everest in the 1920s. In his third attempt to scale Everest in 1924, Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine both disappeared somewhere on the north east ridge.
The pair's last sighting was just a few hundred metres from the summit.
On his website, Lord Archer wrote: "He got within 240 metres of conquering Everest in 1924 dressed in a three-piece suit and carrying a pick axe and rolled umbrella."
When asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, Mallory is famously quoted as saying: "Because it is there."
His attempt came 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first mountaineers to successfully reach the summit.
After 75 years, Mallory's frozen body was finally found in 1999, 2,000ft below the 29,028ft summit.
But experts cannot prove if he died on his climb up the mountain or on the way down.
After his release from prison in 2003, Lord Archer wrote his screenplay in nine months but he said the film will not suggest whether Mallory conquered Everest or not.
He added: "You see him on the way up and then you never see him again."