Internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is reportedly gearing up to direct a biopic of famed English explorer George Mallory to be produced by Hollywood star Julia Roberts and director Kevin Townsend.

Mallory is remembered as having said, "Because it's there" in reply to the question "Why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?" He and his climbing partner disappeared in 1924; they were 800 feet from the summit before the clouds closed in.

"Mallory" is being produced by Roberts' Red Om Films and Townsend's Science + Fiction Townsend, reports variety.com.

Set in post-WW1 England, the story chronicles Mallory's attempts to scale Everest and the toll it takes on his marriage as the mountain becomes his obsession.

The script is written by Townsend and the team of Matthew Faulk and Mark Skeet ("Vanity Fair").

Kapur's credits include "Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth: the Golden Age".