Iceland review - 2015, Page 18

16 ICELAND REVIEW
BY ZOË ROBERT. BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS BY RAX.
OTHER IMAGES COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES.
ON TOP
OF THE
WORLD
The aim is to be able to make world-
class films right here in Reykjavík,”
director Baltasar Kormákur says
when I meet him in the top floor office of
his RVK Studios film and television studio in
central Reykjavík in early July. “We’re trying
to build the company so that can happen—
and we’re constantly expanding and grow-
ing. We have up to 200 people working here
when there’s a project on,” he elaborates.
CLIMBING EXPECTATIONS
“We actually just finished it yesterday,”
Baltasar reveals of his next feature film,
Iceland’s best-known cinematic export, director and producer
Baltasar Kormákur, speaks to Zoë Robert about his career and
upcoming film Everest, which will open this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Everest, which will be released in 3D, 2D
and IMAX on September 18. “It was a
really challenging project, grueling actu-
ally. We were in the foothills of Everest
and had to carry everything on donkeys
and yaks because vehicles are not allowed.
We spent ten days as high as the insurance
companies would allow us to go. We had to
fly to the ‘world’s most dangerous airport’
[at an altitude of 2,845 meters/9,334 feet]
in Lukla [Nepal]. The runway ends with
a steep drop. The weather conditions also
made things difficult. We were sleeping
with electric blankets in the lodges because
there was no heating and it was too cold
to get out of bed. Of course we had to eat
whatever we could carry up… then there
was altitude sickness,” he says of some of
the challenges.
The film is based on the real events of
the 1996 Everest disaster which led to the
deaths of eight climbers and questions
about the commercialization of the world’s
tallest mountain. The story focuses on
the summit and survival attempts of two
expedition groups after a snowstorm hits,
boasting a star-studded cast featuring Jason
Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin
Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington,
Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, Jake