Bale for Everest film?

Christian Bale is in talks to star in forthcoming film 'Everest'.

The 'Dark Knight' star will be directed by Icelandic helmsman Baltasar Kormákur, who made 2012 film 'The Deep'.

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It is based on the book 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer, who survived an expedition in 1996 which saw storms strike three separate groups of climbers, killing eight.

The story has previously been made into a TV movie called 'Into Thin Air: Death on Everest', which was broadcast in 1997.

The UK's Working Title will produce the film, alongside Universal Pictures.

Coincidentally, Bale's 'The Dark Knight Rises' co-star Tom Hardy is set to star in a more historical take on the planet's highest peak, to be directed by Doug Liman.

He's reportedly up for playing mountaineer George Mallory, believed by some to have climbed to the summit some three decades before Sir Edmund Hillary.

Mallory's remains were discovered on the mountain in 1999.