Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin and Keira Knightley may star in the new movie Everest, a retelling of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster in which eight people lost their lives, but the film's most recognizable name isn't an actor. It's Mount Everest. In May of 1996, two teams of climbers, one led by Scott Fischer, the other by Rob Hall, found themselves caught in the middle of a blizzard as they reached the peak of Mount Everest. Eight people died, setting a record for the largest loss of life in a day on Mount Everest.. In the film, out Sept. 18, survivor Beck Weathers is played by Josh Brolin, and fellow survivor Jon Krakauer is portrayed by Michael Kelly, with actors like Gyllenhaal and Jason Clarke filling out the cast. But how did the Everest stars compare to the real climbers?
Both Weathers and Krakauer climbed under the leadership of Hall and published books detailing their harrowing experiences. The actors portraying them had access to their real-life counterparts, a contrast from Gyllenhaal, who plays Fischer, and Jason Clarke, who stars as Hall. With or without contact with the people they play onscreen, the A-list cast of Everest clearly transformed physically in an effort to become their characters.
Josh Brolin As Beck Weathers
In Everest, Josh Brolin stars as Beck Weathers, a Dallas pathologist, who set out to climb Mount Everest in 1996 with Rob Hall as his guide. Brolin met with Weathers before filming began, and told Men's Journal, "People like Beck make me cry. There's something I find so moving about his experience. There were hundred-mile-an-hour winds; it was just a hundred below zero — how did he survive after so many hours exposed to that? It's just not possible. There are still 200 bodies left up there that people are walking past all the time. Why isn't he one of them?"
Brolin posed side-by-side with Weathers at a premiere of Everest.
Jake Gyllenhaal As Scott Fischer
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Scott Fischer, climber and founder of Mountain Madness, which still leads climbs and guided trips to this day. Gyllenhaal bares little resemblance to Fischer, who was blonde in real life, but copied his long hair and rugged look for the film.
Jason Clarke As Rob Hall
Jason Clarke plays Rob Hall, a New Zealand native whose final conversation with his wife, Jan Hall, via radio became a worldwide story after his death. "Please don't worry too much," are believed to have been his last words.
That's the real Rob Hall above.
Michael Kelly As Jon Krakauer
Michael Kelly's counterpart, Jon Krakauer, recently called his decision to climb Mount Everest "the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life" during an interview with HuffPost Live. Here he is, below:
Go see Everest if you want to see a star-studded cast take on a thrilling and terrifying adventure.Images: Universal Pictures (5)
