Tom Hiddleston remembers exactly how long it took him to commit to playing legendary mountaineer Edmund Hillary in Tenzing, a moving Australian-led film about the historic first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953.
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it → remember → 1953
“Immediately,” he says.
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he → say → ?
The British actor had just read what he calls a beautiful letter from Australian director Jennifer Peedom who, after making the 2015 documentary Sherpa, planned to put Hillary’s climbing companion Tenzing Norgay at the centre of a film that showed the fellowship and friendship between the two.
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that → read → two
The letter included “a promise that it will be filmed and photographed on real mountains”, Hiddleston says.
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Hiddleston → include → mountains
“We will go to Nepal.
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We → go → Nepal
We will go to the Himalayas.
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We → go → Himalayas
A final flourish sealed the deal.
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flourish → seal → deal
“In the last paragraph of her letter – we had never met before – she said, ‘Something tells me you’re the kind of person who’d be up for an adventure like this’.
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who → meet → this
And my first question to her was, ‘How did you know?’
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you → know → her
‘When do we start?’”
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we → start → ?
That rapid decision paid off when Tenzing became “one of the most extraordinary, unique opportunities of my life”, he says.
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he → pay → life
Given Hillary and Tenzing are inextricably connected in 20th century history, Hiddleston needed to bond with Genden Phuntsok, the actor who is sitting next to him on a Zoom call from the Toronto International Film Festival.
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who → give → Festival
They are contrasting characters.
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They → contrast → ?
Hiddleston, 45, is a fiercely articulate Eton, Cambridge and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art-educated star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the mischievous Norse god Loki.
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Hiddleston → educate → god
He has shone on stage playing Shakespeare and has shot films with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Jim Jarmusch, Guillermo del Toro and Taika Waititi.
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He → shine → Spielberg
(He also happens to be an exceptional dancer, as shown in The Life of Chuck).
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He → happen → Chuck
Phuntsok, 40, is a little-known Chinese actor of Tibetan descent who has only previously appeared in Tibetan-language films such as Pema Tseden’s Jinpa and Snow Leopard.
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who → know → Jinpa
Like the rest of the expedition cast, including Willem Dafoe as leader Colonel John Hunt, he had to learn the basics of mountain climbing – but he also had to master Sherpa and English language lessons.
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he → cast → Sherpa
Far from getting a written invitation from the director, Phuntsok had to make it through a casting process that included an initial video call with Peedom, then auditions two years later in Nepal and Australia.
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that → get → Nepal
“I was happy but I also have big stress because he was such an amazing man,” he says.
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he → have → stress
“How can I perform well?
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I → perform → ?
On Zoom, it’s obvious there is a genuine connection between the two stars.
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it → ’ → stars
Hiddleston says that, aptly enough, they met for the first time under a sign saying “Tenzing-Hillary Airport” in Lukla, Nepal, early one morning before the shoot.
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they → say → shoot
After tea in a tea house, they set off on a five-day trek with two Sherpas: Phurba Tashi, who has summited Everest 21 times, and high-altitude doctor Nima Sherpa, who both appear in the film.
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who → set → film
“We talked about the privilege and the honour … and responsibility of playing these two great men,” Hiddleston says.
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Hiddleston → talk → men
“They represent so much in terms of courage and belief and commitment and fellowship.”
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They → represent → courage
Peedom, whose documentaries on life at the extremes of adventure include Solo (2008), Miracle on Everest (2008), Mountain (2017) and Deeper (2025), says the trek helped them connect.
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them → include → Everest
“There’s no better way to form a relationship, I think, than just walking and talking,” she says.
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she → ’ → relationship
Determined and thoughtful, Peedom, 50, has been building towards making her first drama after the ABC series Race Around Oz introduced her to documentary-making in 2000.
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series → build → 2000
She lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with her stills photographer husband Mark Rogers and their children Tashi, 18, and Luca, 16.
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She → live → husband
Her long-term interest in the Sherpas began with a short documentary, Sherpas’ Burden, in 2004.
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interest → begin → 2004
She loved being in the Himalayas and found her body could handle conditions on climbs up to 8400 metres – just 450 metres below the Everest summit – as documentaries kept taking her back to the region.
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documentaries → love → region
“I was getting jobs early in my career as a camera operator on Everest expeditions and getting increasingly frustrated at the extent to which the Sherpas were written out of the narrative – literally left on the cutting room floor,” she says.
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she → get → floor
The idea for Tenzing came after the great man’s son, Norbu Tenzing, was given a standing ovation when Sherpa screened at the Sydney Film Festival in 2015.
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Sherpa → come → 2015
“Norbu and I both realised that there was a hunger for this story,” Peedom says.
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Peedom → realise → story
“The story that everyone knows is the ascent of Everest.
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everyone → know → Everest
But they don’t know everything that it took, all the obstacles that Tenzing had to overcome, just to get to the starting line.”
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Tenzing → know → line
Peedom had intended to make Tenzing with Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground, for Netflix.
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Peedom → intend → Netflix
But a bidding war saw Apple TV acquire the worldwide rights, and it was made with See-Saw Films of The King’s Speech and Slow Horses fame, with a script by Luke Davies (Lion).
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it → see → Davies
While the British wanted to be first to conquer Everest, Tenzing had a spiritual connection with the sacred mother goddess “Chomolungma”, the traditional Tibetan name for Everest .
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Tenzing → want → Everest
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
