Director Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) recently had his sci-fi heist flick Luna put on hold, and he turned his attention to the sci-fi action movie All You Need Is Kill, but now he's got a non sci-fi project on the horizon.  Deadline reports that Liman is on board to direct Everest based on Jeffrey Archer's book Paths of Glory with the screenplay written by Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air). The non-fiction novel chronicles British mountain-climber George Mallory's three attempts to reach the top of Mount Everest.  Mallory was a devoted family man and his attempts to climb Everest made him a hero to Great Britain, but he fell short of his attempts to reach the top without oxygen tanks in 1921 and 1922.  Mallory and his climbing partner Sandy Irvine changed their tactics for their final 1924 climb, but they disappeared into the clouds as they made their final approach and were never heard from again.  Debate continues to this day as to whether or not they actually made it to the peak.Liman, who is an avid climber and a fan of Mallory's story, still has Luna and All You Need Is Kill in addition to Everest, and there's no word on which of these three projects will go before cameras first, although Deadline says Everest "is a priority at Sony."  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Paths of Glory.Here's the synopsis for Jeffrey Archer's Paths of Glory:

Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary, Neil Armstrong, and Lewis and Clark are among such individuals.

But what if one man had such a dream, and once he’d fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition?

Jeffrey Archer’s latest book, Paths of Glory, is the story of such a man---George Mallory. Mallory once told an American reporter that he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, “because it’s there.” On his third attempt in 1924, at age thirty-seven, he was last seen six hundred feet from the top. His body was found in 1999, and it still remains a mystery whether he ever reached the summit.

But only after you’ve turned the last page of this extraordinary novel, inspired by a true story, will you be able to decide if George Mallory’s name should be added to the list of legends, in which case another name would have to be removed. Paths of Glory is truly a triumph. [Amazon]

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