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PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Thursday 17 September
‘Everest’ actors had to discover their inner mountaineers
SANDY COHEN In this Friday, Aug. 28, 2015 photo, actors Michael Kelly, from left, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, “There was a part of you
AP Entertainment Writer Josh Brolin, and John Hawkes, from the film “Everest,” pose for a portrait in Los Angeles. going, ‘I’m light-headed,
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ja- I’m not thinking clearly,’”
son Clarke was already an Associated Press Hawkes said, “but it also
avid outdoorsman when affords you a chance to
he signed on to play the High altitude has an un- saw the crew start falling said. “I got to do all the really not act and just be
lead role in “Everest.” He’d deniable effect on human apart. People got sick. We things I love to do and I got in the moment, which is a
visited most of the nation- function. With less available had to evacuate them.” to do it in an extreme fash- great gift for actors.”
al parks in North America oxygen, the mind slows Other snowy sequences ion that I probably wouldn’t Ironically, the cast said
and trekked through Chile and the body weakens. were filmed in the Ital- have if I didn’t have the ex- the most physically chal-
and Argentina. He knew Even expert climbers can ian alps at around 12,000 cuse of doing a movie.” lenging aspect of making
his way around an ice-ax get altitude sickness, char- feet — still high enough to Brolin plays Beck Weathers, “Everest” happened on a
and crampons. He even acterized by headache, cause the aches and fog- who miraculously survived London soundstage.
backpacked to Everest nausea, dizziness and ex- gy thought associated with the fated 1996 Everest ex- That’s where Kormakur
base camp — a stagger- haustion. being at high altitude. pedition, despite spend- captured his close-ups: a
ing 17,600 feet above sea Where climbers experience To work up there, the ac- ing 18 hours stranded on turbine engine pelting the
level — a few years back gradual elevation gain dur- tors had to become hikers the mountain, weathering actors with bits of plastic,
just for fun. ing their ascent that helps months before produc- its extreme conditions. He paper and salt to mimic
But just like his less-outdoor- them acclimatize to the tion began — which suited lost his hands and nose to a snowstorm. Brolin joked
sy colleagues, Clarke had thinner air, the “Everest” Clarke and Brolin just fine. frostbite. His book, “Left for that the resulting exfolia-
to physically prepare for cast and crew were flown Brolin was already a rock Dead: My Journey Home tion was great for his com-
the challenges of working in. Advance prepara- climber, and he used the From Everest,” served as an plexion.
at extreme elevation to tion was essential, and still film as an excuse to up his inspiration for the film. Despite the forced skin
make the epic drama. sometimes insufficient. outdoor game. He spent Actors Hawkes and Kelly, treatment and struggles
“I loved it,” he beamed. “I “We were dropped off in seven months training, who wouldn’t consider with elevation, the awe-
loved every single second helicopters at the end be- climbing on Switzerland’s themselves mountaineers, someness of seeing Everest
of it.” cause it was too hard to famous Eiger and summit- each hiked to ready for is something the cast won’t
Clarke leads the ensemble walk up there and then ing California’s Mts. Shasta their roles. Still, they felt the soon forget.
cast of “Everest,” open- shoot a scene,” Kormakur and Whitney. wearying effects of work- “It just made me feel like
ing Friday, which tells the said. “At that point, I just “This is selfish to me,” he ing at high elevation. I wanted to get rid of ev-
story of the doomed 1996 erything,” Hawkes said. “It
expedition that claimed takes so little to live and to
the lives of eight climbers be happy.”
— the deadliest day on the Kelly found hiking there “in-
mountain at the time. To credibly grounding.”
scale the planet’s highest “I’ll walk this trail and some-
peak on screen, the actors one’s going to walk this
— Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake trail 100 years from now.
Gyllenhaal, John Hawkes And then 200 years from
and Michael Kelly — had now,” he said. “And peo-
to train like real mountain- ple walked it hundreds of
eers. Director Balthasar years before me. That’s
Kormakur insisted on au- pretty cool.”
thenticity, so he brought For Clarke, already inti-
his cast and crew to Nepal, mate with nature’s majes-
where they filmed at an al- ty, being on THE mountain
titude of 16,000 feet. (The was deeply moving. He
highest ski resorts in the U.S. talked its top helicopter pi-
top out around 13,000 feet. lot into flying him up as high
Most are less than 10,000 as they could go (around
feet tall.) 23,000 feet).q
Caitlyn Jenner files to legally
change name and gender
ANTHONY McCARTNEY Tuesday in Los Angeles. She Some details in the released In a Wednesday, July 15, 2015 file photo, Caitlyn Jenner ac-
AP Entertainment Writer is seeking a private hear- petition were redacted cepts the Arthur Ashe award for courage at the ESPY Awards at
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cait- ing to officially change her after Jenner’s attorneys the Microsoft Theater, in Los Angeles.
lyn Jenner has filed paper- name to Caitlyn Marie Jen- sought to keep certain per-
work to make her name ner and gender to female. sonal details private, citing Associated Press
and gender transition offi- Jenner, 65, is seeking the concerns about threats
cial, but she has requested change “to better match made against her. harm,” Jenner wrote in a using her birth name, Wil-
privacy accommodations my identity,” the filing “Although public support
citing threats she has re- states. for my transition has been sworn declaration. liam Bruce Jenner, last
ceived. It was released Wednes- overwhelmingly support-
The Olympic gold medal- day so a judge could con- ive, I am also receiving un- She signed the document week.q
ist who was born as Bruce sider Jenner’s request to file welcome negative atten-
Jenner filed a name and portions of the application tion from private citizens,
gender-change petition on under seal. including threats of bodily
