Director Baltasar Kormakur has started shooting “Everest” in the Nepalese foothills of the world’s highest mountain for Universal Pictures, Walden Media and Cross Creek Pictures, Variety reported.

The action-adventure drama will recap the 1996 multi-expedition assault on Everest that left eight climbers dead. Jason Clarke (pictured above) is playing Rob Hall with Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer, Josh Brolin as Beck Weathers and John Hawkes as Doug Hansen.

The film will also shoot in the Italian Alps and at Cinecitta Studios in Rome and Pinewood Studios in the U.K. Universal will release “Everest” in North American theaters in 3D on Feb. 27, 2015.

Martin Henderson, Emily Watson, Michael Kelly and Thomas M. Wright also star. Producers are Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson, as well as Nicky Kentish Barnes.

Jon Krakauer’s bestseller “Into Thin Air” chronicled the commercial expeditions that were caught in a blizzard on the mountain. “Everest” had been adapted for the screen by Mark Medoff (“Children of a Lesser God”) and Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”).