(AGI) Venice, Sept 2 - The 72nd Venice Film Festival kicks offWednesday night with "Everest", by Icelander Baltasar Kormakur.The film, to be released on Sept. 24, takes us to the peak ofthe world's highest mountain, while telling the incredible andtragic story of two climbing expeditions in 1996 in which eightpeople died in a sudden snow storm. The cast includes JoshBrolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke and Emily Watson. At themorning screening, it was received by the media rather coldly."Everest" is based on "Into Thin Air", part of a series ofbooks by Jon Krakauer, including the world renowned "Into theWild", which was used by Sean Penn for his acclaimed featurefilm. The director said: "A soul-searching and epic story likethe one in all blockbusters. I wanted the actors to absorb thesensations directly from nature and to keep away from typicallyHollywood-style characters, making them more intimate. It wasimpossible to tell this story without going to the area." Thefilm uses 3D to take audiences onto glaciers and ponder thesuffering and essence of man. "It is also a metaphoricaljourney in the pursuit of who we are and how we relate tonature. It is possible to represent any ambition through themetaphor of the mountain," the director said. "Everest" wasfilmed in Nepal, "in the places where the tragedy took place,we went on location at base camp," he added. The film crew thenmoved to Italy's Val Senales, at 3,000 metres and a temperatureof 30 degrees Centigrade below zero, to London's Pinewoodstudios and the studios of Rome's Cinecitta'. "I tried to keepeveryone safe from any sort of danger, although I made myactors suffer but nobody got hurt," he said. Josh Brolin asBeck, Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer, whose body was trappedin the ice, Jason Clarke as Rob Hall, the leader of the party,and Emily Watson as Helen Wilton, all helped to tell the storyof the climbers. They will all attend the premiere at 7 p.m. onWednesday. "It is a big responsibility to put a real-lifetragedy on film," said Jake Gyllenhaal, who is back in Veniceten years after "Brokeback Mountain". He went on: "You neverknow what impact it will have on the families, for example onScott's. I met his children who gave me a portrait of theirfather, and this enabled me to transfer their energy onto mycharacter." Josh Brolin said: "At a certain point, you have toput aside this responsibility and pray that everything goes forthe best without anybody getting hurt. It seems to me that wemanaged to respect everyone's individual essence.".