| MUMBAI:
National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) has acquired The Wildest Dream
for distribution in both 35mm and Imax in the US as well as for Imax and giant-screen
theaters throughout the world. The
Wildest Dream is the third major acquisition for NGE this year, following
Cherien Dabis’ Sundance comedy hit Amreeka" which opened in New
York and Los Angeles this Friday.
It
also bought City of Life and Death which screens at the 2009 Toronto Film
Festival and will be released under the National Geographic World Films label
in North America in early 2010. 85
years after George Mallory’s final attempt to summit Mount Everest, The
Wildest Dream explores Mallory’s obsession with becoming the first person
to reach the highest place on Earth. Told through the explorer’s poignant
and evocative letters to his wife, Ruth, previously unseen photos and film archive
from 1924 (restored from the original nitrate especially for the film), dramatization
and a modern-day expedition retracing the original route taken in 1924, Mallory’s
incredible adventure lives again. The
expedition was led by mountaineer Conrad Anker, whose life became inextricably
linked with Mallory’s after he found Mallory’s body on Everest in 1999.
Using replica 1920s-era clothing and equipment, Anker sets out to solve the great
mystery of whether Mallory succeeded in summiting Everest before he died -- he
was last seen just 800 feet from the summit before the clouds closed in and he
disappeared into legend. The
most heartbreaking clue: All of Mallory’s belongings were found intact on
his body, except the photograph of his beloved Ruth, which he promised to leave
at the top of the world if he succeeded. Directed
by filmmaker Anthony Geffen and produced by Geffen and Claudia Perkins, The
Wildest Dream is narrated by Liam Neeson and features the voices of Ralph
Fiennes as George Mallory, the late Natasha Richardson as Ruth Mallory, Hugh Dancy
as Mallory’s fellow climber Andrew Irvine and Alan Rickman as Noel Odell,
the last person to see Mallory alive. Mike Medavoy is the executive producer.
National
Geographic Cinema Ventures president Lisa Truitt says, "We are thrilled to
release The Wildest Dream, which captures one of history’s greatest
feats of exploration and mountaineering. The film tells a gripping story from
many different perspectives -- from that of George Mallory and his beloved wife,
Ruth, to the modern climbers who follow Mallory’s last footsteps, seeking
to solve the enduring mystery of his last ascent of Everest." NGE
president David Beal says, "With the acquisition of Cherien Dabis’ Amreeka,Lu
Chuan’s City of Life and Death and now The Wildest Dream, we
feel that National Geographic Entertainment is hitting its stride in working with
innovative filmmakers and finding the right movies for our distribution platform.
Each of these films makes its mark as wonderful entertainment, but each project
also presents the depth and breadth of the endless supply of the world’s
great stories." | 
