The Impossible and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director, J. A. Bayona, has found his next project: a real-life disaster movie, Society of the Snow. Netflix is producing the Spanish-language film based on the book La Sociedad de la Nieve by Uruguayan author and journalist Pablo Vierci. Society of the Snow will recount the 1972 Andes plane crash involving Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, carrying 45 people. The incident left 11 people dead and 34 others stranded in the freezing Andes mountains. The survivors had to resort to extreme measures, including cannibalism, to stay alive in the sub-zero temperatures while battling starvation and avalanches for two months.

In the end, only 16 of the 34 initial survivors made it out alive, and this tragedy came to be known as the "Miracle of the Andes." There have been several books written about the event, one of which-Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read, was previously adapted into a feature film-1993’s Alive, starring Ethan Hawke and directed by Frank Marshall. In a statement, J. A. Bayona revealed that he is excited to deliver a complex yet emotional dramatization of this inspiring true story.

"It was during the documentation process for The Impossible that I discovered Society of the Snow, Pablo Vierci’s fascinating chronicle about the tragedy of the Andes. More than ten years later, my fascination for the novel remains intact and I am happy to face the challenge that lies ahead: To tell one of the most remembered events of the 20th century, with all the complexity that implies a story that gives so much relevance to the survivors as well as to those who never returned from the mountains. I also face it in Spanish, a language that I excitedly return to after 14 years without filming in my own language, and with a team of young Uruguayan and Argentine actors, whom I’m totally thrilled with."

The Spanish filmmaker is going back to his roots after a decade-long stint in Hollywood, having made The Impossible, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, and A Monster Calls. Bayona has also directed the first two episodes of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings adaptation. Society of the Snow will be Bayona’s first Spanish language film in 14 years. He last directed the 2007 horror film, The Orphanage.

Society of the Snow is written by Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego, and features a large ensemble of actors. Enzo Vogrincic Roldán, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Tomas Wolf, Diego Ariel Vegezzi, Esteban Kukuriczka, Francisco Romero, Rafael Federman, Felipe González Otaño, Agustín Della Corte, Valentino Alonso, Simón Hempe, Fernando Contigiani García, Benjamín Segura and Jerónimo Bosia star in the film.

Producers Belen Atienza and Sandra Hermida are just as excited about bringing this incredible event to life. "After a few years working on the project, we are very terribly excited to start filming Society of the Snow," said the duo. "We want to thank Netflix for their determined support of this project, which will be shot entirely in Spanish, and also thank the survivors and the families of those who perished in the tragedy of the Andes, for their enormous generosity in sharing their story with us."

Society of the Snow will begin production soon and shoot on location in Spain, Uruguay, and various locations in the Andes, including El Valle de las Lágrimas, where the accident occurred. Society of the Snow will premiere on Netflix in 2022.

This news originated at Deadline.