Summitting Everest is the exemplar of achieving the impossible.
For Tom Hiddleston, though, it’s off the table. “I love adventure. I think as a father of children I deeply love Everest is beyond me now. Because the risks are too great,” he told The Knockturnal at the red carpet premiere of Apple TV’s Tenzing.
The film follows Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary (played by Hiddleston) journey to be the first people to reach the peak of the tallest mountain in the world.
Although Hiddleston won’t follow in Hillary’s footsteps of literally climbing the mountain, he has summited his own Everest so to speak. “I may have already gotten one better because I got to play Edmund HIllary,” he said. “I got to live his life for a short time. And I think that is almost more privileged and unique than getting to climb to the top.”
For Hiddleston one of the privileges of playing the role was the opportunity to work with Willem Dafoe. “Willem is just a brilliant actor and needs no advertisement from me,” he said.
Dafoe plays Colonel John Hunt, who led the expedition. Hunt is a tough, results driven military man. Dafoe has played a few military roles, such as Platoon and The Card Counter. In fact, he even considered joining the military when he was a young man. He told The Knockturnal, “When I was young that was a very brief period when I just wanted to come up against something. I wanted some sort of structure, but now my relationship to the military is different.”
Dafoe is also known for his villainous turn in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a club his co-star also belongs to. Hiddleston said,”“Occasionally people will see us together and say, ‘Oh my goodness Loki and Green Goblin.’”
Tenzing is available to stream on Apple TV.
