On 29 May 1953, the New Zealand climber Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first people to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. For decades, though, many retellings put Hillary at the centre and left Tenzing in the margins. Tenzing, the first fiction feature from the Australian director Jennifer Peedom, sets out to put that right, and Willem Dafoe has been talking about what it was like to film it high in the Himalaya.
A film that returns the summit to Tenzing
The Apple Original Film stars Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing Norgay and Tom Hiddleston as Hillary, with Caitríona Balfe as expedition secretary Jill Henderson. Dafoe plays Colonel John Hunt, the leader of the British expedition, who in the story has to be persuaded that Tenzing belongs on the climbing team rather than merely serving it. Written by Luke Davies, the film opened in selected cinemas on 9 October and has been streaming on Apple TV since 16 October.
Dafoe told Vanity Fair, in an interview published in Italian this weekend, that his connection with Peedom goes back years. He narrated her poetic documentaries Mountain and River, and when he asked whether she planned a drama, she told him about her dream of telling Tenzing’s story. A decade later, she called. He was drawn by her close ties with the Sherpa community, by the fresh point of view, and by the chance to shoot in real landscapes rather than in front of a green screen.
Holding on to the rope
Perhaps surprisingly for an actor in a mountaineering epic, Dafoe admits he is afraid of heights. On one steep climb beside a sheer drop he gripped the rope with all his strength for the entire scene, and on the way back placed his feet carefully in footprints already pressed into the ice. The experience taught him something simple about himself: he is not the kind of person who wants to climb Everest, and he feels much happier in the valley.
He describes the shoot as a constant exercise in accepting the unexpected: helicopter rides to high-altitude locations, waiting for the weather to clear, carrying heavy kit, and watching body temperature and oxygen. None of it, he says, is about playing the all-powerful hero. For Dafoe, acting still feels more like play than work, almost like being a child again.
The 1950s expedition look on screen, all canvas, wool and well-worn leather, is a reminder of how good practical kit can be. If you are planning your own trips, from city breaks to hill walks, take a look at our men’s backpacks, women’s backpacks and hands-free men’s crossbody bags. And for a quiet nod to those deep Himalayan skies, browse our sapphire pendants and men’s rings.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia (Norine Raja, translated and adapted by Edoardo Zaccone, 1 November 2026); Apple TV Press, Tenzing release information (September and October 2026); Jennifer Peedom official website.
