Director Baltasar Kormakur, who helmed survival drama Everest inspired by the 1996 blizzard, says he wanted to tell the story because of its theme of man versus nature.

“I read the story and I thought it was a great emotional story about the concept of man versus nature. It also gave me a chance to see the Everest, which was a dream come true for me,” Korm kur told PTI in an interview.

The blizzard that hit the Everest in 1996, took several lives, making it one of the “deadliest” calamities on the peak.

The director says it was a difficult task to gather the A-list Hollywood cast but they managed to get on board stars like Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

“It took quite a lot of time… But most of them were very interested in the story. It is a very rare film to make. Such films are no longer made in Hollywood. We built the cast over a period of time.”

The 2015 film, which was written by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy, was adapted from Beck Weathers’ memoir “Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest (2000)”.