Many people know Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary for the moment they became the first people to summit Mount Everest. But not many know much else about their stories.
The new Apple TV film Tenzing sets out to change this. Based on true events, the film stars Chinese actor of Tibetan descent Genden Phuntsok as the gifted Himalayan climber. The movie not only chronicles Norgay’s climbing talent, but also takes audiences through the highs and lows of his life to show how he was able to accomplish such a monumental feat.
Phuntsok told ABC Audio what it means to him to be able to bring Norgay to life in this way.
“Tenzing Norgay should [have been] known many years ago, and at this moment, I really hope Tenzing Norgay, he can see this movie from heaven,” Phuntsok said.
The actor hopes people from all over the world will “give more love to the Sherpa people and [put] more attention on the Sherpa people” after watching Tenzing.
Tom Hiddleston stars alongside Phuntsok as the New Zealand mountaineer Hillary. He said he’d “always been captivated by the prospect of Everest, by the roof of the world, by this story.”
The actor learned to ski in the Swiss and French Alps. While he had never climbed mountains at the scale and degree of skill required for Tenzing prior to signing on to the project, he’d always loved them.
“I found that mountains can yield awe and peace and serenity that I haven’t found elsewhere in my life. I love being in the mountains. And I’ve always been so impressed by the idea of these extraordinary men who achieved the impossible, and had the physical strength and the resilience and the spiritual strength to do this,” Hiddleston said.
Part of the appeal of working on the project was director Jennifer Peedom’s insistence on filming in real locations.
“When Genden and I are dropped into crevasses, we are in a real crevasse, climbing up a real ice wall. It was completely unforgettable,” Hiddleston said.
Adding to that unforgettable experience was getting to act out what Hiddleston describes as a “remarkable story of endurance, of imagination, of resilience, of fellowship and friendship and team spirit.”
And while Hiddleston acknowledges the skill both Norgay and Hillary had, he also attributes their successful journey to their lack of ego.
“The film, correctly, I think, suggests that Tenzing and Hillary were the first to summit Everest because they had a relationship with the mountain that was deeply spiritual. It wasn’t about ego, it wasn’t about conquest. It was about reverence and awe,” Hiddleston said. “From Tenzing’s point of view, the mountain is not a mountain to be conquered, but a goddess to be worshipped. A mother into whose lap you might climb.”
He thinks Hillary thought of the journey similarly to Norgay.
“I think in his own way, Edmund Hillary had a similar relationship to mountains. He loved being free in the mountains, being unrestrained and unconstrained. Being at peace somehow,” Hiddleston said.
Tenzing is now available to stream on Apple TV.
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