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That doesn't look like Everest! Jake Gyllenhaal dons climbing suit, hat and goggles for filming in Italy... but trades real mountain for green screen

PUBLISHED: 21:30 GMT, 26 February 2014 | UPDATED: 01:28 GMT, 27 February 2014

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He is starring in Everest as a climber who met a tragic end while attempting to scale the infamous mountain.

But the scene surrounding Jake Gyllenhaal on Monday was a far cry from the Himalayas.

The 33-year-old actor was in Rome to film the climbing epic, sporting a cosy looking climbing suit, goggles, black and white woolly hat and brown beard.

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The dizzy heights of Rome: Jake Gyllenhaal steps out in a climbing suit, backpack, hat and goggles as he begins filming Everest in Italy on Wednesday

A number of tents were set up among the rocks, but a green screen replaced the mountainous backdrop.

The film, directed by Baltasar Kormakur, follows the true story of the ill fated 1996 attempt to climb the world's tallest mountain by two expedition groups.

A massive storm hit the mountain leaving eight people dead with events recounted by one of the surviving climbers Jon Krakauer in his book Into Thin Air.

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Green screen: Jake is seen acting amid the balmier temperatures of Rome

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Into the wild: Jake was dressed for the part with his bushy beard and warm clothes

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Discomfort: The star is seen getting out of his tent with full backpack and sleeping roll attached

The calamity was the worst tragedy in the climbing history of Mount Everest.

Gyllenhaal plays expedition group leader Scott Fisher in the film - a climber who ran an adventure company which took climbers up the mountain, but during the freak storm he became ill and was unable to descend the peak.

The adventurer died and the 40-year-old's body remains in situ on the peak to this day, in accordance with his family's wishes.

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Financial troubles: The shoot for Everest was delayed after difficulty securing funding

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Tragic tale: The film is based on a real life mountaineering disaster

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Based on true life: The film follows real events and is also based on the book Into Thin Air by surviving climber Jon Krakauer

'With Everest, it's a story that I've always been fascinated with - even as just a metaphor,' the actor told GQ magazine last September about the film.

'The idea of what is seemingly unattainable, but the reasons why people go there and try and as they say "conquer" a mountain. That is a fascinating turn of phrase. That somehow getting to the top of it is conquering it.'

Gyllenhaal, who adventured with Bear Grylls in the Icelandic tundra in Men Vs Wild, told the magazine he is fascinated with the idea of an explorer combining an adventurer's spirit and discipline to achieve his goals.

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Discussing the shoot: Jake took a break to talk about the film with director Baltasar Kormákur

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Wild man: Jake said he was fascinated by the idea of an adventurous spirit combined with discipline in an interview last year

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Get your rocks off: The star seemed keen to disrobe from his padded climbing suit in a break from shooting

'I like the idea of the adventurer's spirit,' he said. 'I think that is very much what a man searches for, in a certain way.

'But where I find myself getting caught up is where that spirit doesn't meet discipline. What I loved about the process of researching Everest is just what a science it all is.

'You can believe in the sense of adventure, and you can create nostalgia based on some lofty idea of it, but ultimately to conquer that mountain requires great discipline - using your critical, analytical mind - as well as that spirit we all talk about.'

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Breathe: The actor held an oxygen mask to his face with a Mount Everest 1996 knitted hat on his head

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Practice makes perfect: It looked a bit of a tight squeeze in the tent

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Far from Nepal: It is thought that the movie will contain some filming near the real Everest

House Of Cards star Michael Kelly as Krakauer and Jason Clarke will play New Zealand expedition leader Rob Hall who also perished in the tragedy.

Jon Hawkes co-stars as Doug Hansen, a slow climber from Seattle who causes his team to be late setting out on their journey up the peak and Josh Brolin will play Beck Weathers, a doctor who has to endure a night exposed to the elements.

Gyllenhaal has had to wait to begin the movie, which was originally slated to start shooting last year, but suffered financial difficulties.

The Italian Dolomite Mountains will serve as the group's Everest, however, they are expected to do some filming actually in Nepal.

EVEREST: THE TRUE STORY

Two teams of amateur climbers set out for the summit of Mount Everest, lead by experienced high-altitude mountaineers Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, on May 10, 1996.

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Sad tale: Jake will be playing the late Scott Fischer, left, who died along with seven other climbers during 1996 on Everest, in a film named after the world's tallest mountain

All 28 people in the two groups made it to the 29,000 ft summit of the world's tallest peak, situated between the Nepal and Tibet.

But, severely weakened by the climb, they were hit by a terrible storm as they made their way down to base camp.

As a result, eight people died of frostbite and exposure - including the team leaders, Hall and Fischer.

The world was watching as the tragedy unfolded because the climbs were carefully documented on the Internet, on pages which are still maintained by Outside Magazine.

Author Jon Krakauer, who survived the disaster, documented the events for the magazine and later in his book, Into Thin Air.

Gyllenhaal plays Fischer, a 40-year-old father-of-two, who ran his own adventure company.

Some 148 people have died attempting to reach the summit of Mount Everest since 1922. It wasn't conquered until May 29, 1953, when Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and sherpa Tenzing Norgay of Nepal ascended to the top.

Since then, hundreds of people have made the climb and, by 1996, adventure companies for paying guests had made the conquering the mountain seem an every day event.

In the aftermath of the 1996 deaths, questioned were raised about many of the climbers' physical fitness and experience as mountaineers.