Fiona Govan
IT is one of the most harrowing tales of survival ever told.
The incredible 1972 ordeal of the Uruguayan rugby team who managed to survive a plane crash in the Andes of Chile, in part by eating their dead colleagues.
Now, thanks to Spanish director JA Bayona (Jurassic World and the Impossible), a Netflix movie is being made on their story in the heart of Andalucia.
Largely set in the soaring Sierra Nevada mountains, filming will begin near the resort of Pradollano early next year.
As well as taking over a number of hotels in the resort and in Granada, producers at Netflix will be taking over a small part of the isolated Laguna valley.
“They are taking over various areas in the resort, but it is all very much in secret,” said a source.
“It is definitely a very big production costing millions and it is very good news for the skiing resort.”
The most exciting development so far has been the construction of the crashed plane inside a huge hanger at the top of the resort.
“They have built the hanger entirely for the film and are set to shoot various scenes inside it,” added the source.
While the main actors are from Argentina and Uruguay, producers of the film, Society of the Snow, have also been looking out for extras from the Granada area.
An advert has been seeking local men ‘with long hair and with heights between 166 (5ft,5ins) and 188cm (6ft, 2ins)’.
They also want ‘walkers, mountain climbers between the ages of 18 and 43’.
Based on the book La sociedad de la nieve by Pablo Vierci, the film charts the true story of Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 which crashed on a glacier.
Famous from the 1993 film Alive, only 29 of the 45 passengers survived the crash, finding themselves in one of the world’s most hostile environments.
A copy of the letter left by one of the survivors looking for help in the museum dedicated to the crash in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Barcelona born director JA Bayona said this week he was ‘happy to face the challenge that lies ahead’.
“It is great to be telling one of the most remembered events of the 20th century, with all the complexity of a story that gives so much relevance to the survivors as well as to those who never returned from the mountains,” he said.
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