Selena Gomez to Star as Peruvian Mountaineer & Social Entrepreneur Silvia Vásquez-Lavado

It’s an uphill battle for Selena Gomez

The 28-year-old Mexican American actress/singer will portray pioneering Peruvian mountaineer and social entrepreneur Silvia Vásquez-Lavado in a new film, based on Vásquez-Lavado’s upcoming memoir In the Shadow of the Mountain.

Selena Gomez

Vásquez-Lavado is the first gay woman to complete the Seven Summits, the highest mountains (including Mount Everest) on each of the seven continents. She’s also the founder of Courageous Girls, a nonprofit that helps survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking, and has organized excursions for abuse survivors to the Mount Everest base camp. In the Shadow of the Mountain is expected to be published in 2022.

Silvia Vásquez-Lavado

Gomez will produce the film through her July Moon Productions. Vásquez-Lavado and Lara Love Hardin of Idea Architects are executive producing.

Elgin James will pen and direct In the Shadow of the Mountain. He wrote the film Lowriders and co-created the series Mayans M.C.

Gomez has feature film credits on Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, Adam McKay’s The Big Short and Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die.”