He’s spent more than a decade playing the God of Mischief, navigating the Marvel multiverse, and becoming one of the most recognisable actors in the world. While simultaneously bracing himself to return as Loki in Avengers: Doomsday later this year, Tom Hiddleston has now traded Asgard for the Himalayas, taking on a very different kind of legend: Sir Edmund Hillary.
In the Apple Original Tenzing, Hiddleston plays the New Zealand mountaineer who, alongside Tenzing Norgay, became one of the first two people to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953.
But the biopic-drama, directed by Jennifer Peedom, is less interested in turning Hillary into a larger-than-life hero than in capturing the extraordinary human effort behind one of history’s most celebrated achievements.
For The Night Manager and Avengers star, that meant approaching a man whose legacy is defined not only by what he accomplished, but by his humility, his partnership with Norgay and his enduring relationship with the mountain.
Ahead of Tenzing’s release in select US theaters on October 9 and Apple TV on October 16, Hiddleston, who also shares the screen with Genden Phuntsok (as Tenzing Norgay) and Willem Dafoe (as John Hunt) in the film, talks about the responsibility of portraying Hillary, filming in the Himalayas, and the unexpected places where Loki has followed him.
Excerpts from an interview:
Biopics have been such an interesting genre in the last few years. Many actors have spoken about how, when they play morally complex characters, they get to explore the light and darkness in these powerful men. But when you take a character like Edmund Hillary, he wasn’t just a great mountaineer, he was also a great human being. You have to come across on-screen as exceedingly sincere and earnest because of his legacy, what he’s done for the community, and how the fame still endures to this day. Was that difficult?
Tom: Interesting. So one of the very first conversations that Genden (Phuntsok) and I had together — we were introduced by extraordinary happenstance or design, having never met before — was at the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal which is where all hikers must begin their journey towards Everest Base Camp.
We were wearing the modern clothing of 21st-century mountaineering, and it was very early in the morning. We were surrounded by other climbers, all on their own trip, and we shook hands and hugged underneath the sign which says Tenzing-Hillary Airport. We went into a tea house and had a cup of tea before setting off.
Immediately in that tea house, there were two Sherpas — Dr Nima and Phurba Tashi — both of whom had summited Everest many times. In that first conversation, we shared the privilege we felt in being given the honour of carrying the duty and responsibility of the achievement of these two men (Norgay and Hillary)... not just their achievement, but also who they were, what they did for the community and what they did for the people who came after them.
It was so clear to us, the more we got to know them, how incredibly good and decent they were. Maybe that comes from a lifetime in the mountains. They both had enough personal, private and quiet determination to know that they wanted to be there.
They wouldn't be human if they didn't have it, but they didn't have ego. It wasn't ever really about them; it was all about the mountain. That set us off on the right path.
While shooting Tenzing, you went to a remote monastery in a village in the Himalayas, and three monks came to you and went, "Mr. Loki, can we take a picture with you?" at the last place on the planet you'd expect to be recognised. The fame is so unimaginable. Do you feel pressured by the fact that everything you do now is seen by people across the world?
Tom: For me, it's just such a privilege! I could never have expected it when I began the journey 16 years ago, and I receive it as a profound compliment. I feel enormous gratitude because, whatever my contribution to these stories and to these films, the character has connected with the imaginations of so many people in so many places and so many different cultures.
Loki means so much to so many people for so many different reasons, and all I feel is the warmth and generosity of that honour. It really feels like an honour. I feel like I'm the torchbearer for the character, a character who's been in the human imagination for 3,000 years and who will endure long after I'm gone.
So it's a privilege to be the torchbearer for the idea, and truly a joy to know that even in a remote monastery in Lower Mustang in Nepal, the monks are fans of the God of Mischief.
You mentioned the sense of responsibility you felt in portraying Hillary, but what did the experience of working with Tibetan actor Genden Phuntsok, who plays the titular character, teach you?
Tom: I learnt so much from Genden. His sense of commitment and belief was total, and he had this incredibly quiet but strong commitment to bringing this story to life. That's the pleasure of working with any actor, whether you've known them before or not. Once you're in the scene together, for instance, when Genden and I are in a tent at the South Summit of Everest… that's just two men in a tent. No matter what. The pleasure for us is that we get to inhabit that space together, as two men who find ourselves in this environment, in this adventure together.
That feeling extended to the entire production. It was an extraordinarily international team, with so many people from so many different places coming together with the same dream, very much like the original Mount Everest expedition of 1953. That's also what makes the film special; everybody was there for the same reason, and everybody was committed to bringing this story to life.
And then, of course, there's the scale of what we were trying to capture. Jennifer Peedom (the director) and Stefan Duscio, our cinematographer, have done extraordinary things with the beauty and awe of those mountains. Find the biggest screen you can!