‘It's feral, it's raw': Lily James teases ‘real re-imagining' of Sylvester Stallone's Cliffhanger
The 36-year-old actress will star in the new take of Sylvester Stallone's 1993 action flick as Naomi Cooper, and James has now revealed Cliffhanger is 'definitely different' to the first flick.
Speaking with Screen Rant, she said: 'I don't want to say too much to give it away right now. What I will say is I had one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. We shot in the Dolomites. We were there for six weeks on the mountains.
'I was really hanging off mountains. We had to shut down multiple times because of freak snowstorms.
'The story is very much through Naomi and her sister Sydney. I would hope that we are maintaining what people love about the original cliffhanger, but it's definitely different.
'It's feral, it's raw. It's a real re-imagining, and I am producing it too.'
The Baby Driver star added she 'loved working with' director Jaume Collet-Serra, and gushed it was 'just a dream' to collaborate with Pierce Brosnan - who is portraying her mountaineer father Ray Cooper in the film.
She said: 'I loved working with Jaume Collet-Sera, who's directing it. We have a wonderful cast. Pierce Brosnan is just a dream, and we're in the edit phase now, but I'm really, really excited to share this one.
'And I fell completely in love with rock climbing. I became utterly obsessed. And getting physically strong for that was one of the biggest challenges.
'But getting to really do it and really do all that climbing was seriously empowering really. And I loved it.'
Stallone was initially due to reprise his role as ranger Gabriel 'Gabe' Walker in the new Cliffhanger movie, though the actor ultimately left the project and it was subsequently overhauled with James and Brosnan leading the reboot instead.
The official synopsis reads: 'In this reboot of Cliffhanger, seasoned mountaineer Ray Cooper (Brosnan) and his daughter Sydney run a mountain chalet in the Dolomites.
'During a weekend trip with a billionaire's son, they are targeted by a gang of kidnappers. Ray's older daughter Naomi (James), still haunted by a past climbing accident, witnesses the attack and escapes.'
The cast for Cliffhanger also includes Nell Tiger Free, Franz Rogowski, Shubham Saraf, Assaad Bouab, Suzy Bemba and Bruno Gouery.
In order to prepare for Cliffhanger, James underwent real training to learn how to climb to achieve the epic shots seen in the movie.
Collet-Serra said in a statement: 'Shooting our movie on location in the Dolomites using large format cameras was imperative for us to show the scope and scale of the story we're telling.
'We're going to bring the audience a truly thrilling and visceral, premium theatrical experience. Lily in particular has gone above and beyond for the role, putting in real training and learning to climb.
'Her dedication has allowed us to capture some incredible shots we couldn't have achieved otherwise, and the whole crew is blown away by her commitment.'
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