For director Martin Campbell, this is hardly the first time he's faced comparisons. It had some great stuff in that, but it's a hokey story and ours is a thriller story I guess. It's not a documentary on mountain climbing, but the truth is you do get compared, of course. I don't care about that. When you think about a gun that could put a stud of metal into granite three inches without taking your arm off, that's a pretty neat piece of equipment.
Drills exist, to drill apart rock, or rotary hammer.
But something that could drive a stud of metal into solid granite would have to be a tank, basically. As an audience participant, you've got to suspend your disbelief, especially as a climber. The cast trained with professional climbers for one month prior to principal photography so they could perform as many of their own stunts as the insurance company would allow. Star O'Donnell was happy to take such risks. I actually was more concerned to be honest with you about going over to an unknown country, New Zealand, and having our first baby, but we had the baby in New Zealand.