Apple just dropped the official poster for Tenzing, and it’s already doing exactly what a good Everest movie poster should do — make you feel cold, small, and slightly out of breath. The one-sheet features Tom Hiddleston as Sir Edmund Hillary and Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing Norgay standing against the mountain that made them both legends, with Willem Dafoe looming in the background as expedition leader John Hunt.
Tenzing tells the story of the 1953 first ascent of Mount Everest, but this time the focus is firmly on Norgay, the Nepalese-Indian sherpa who reached the summit alongside the New Zealand alpinist. It’s about time someone made this movie from his perspective instead of treating him like a footnote in someone else’s hero journey. We’ve seen enough Everest movies that forget who actually carried the gear and did the real work at altitude.
Director Jennifer Peedom, who previously made the documentary Sherpa, seems uniquely qualified to tell this story without falling into the usual trap of making the white guy the hero and everyone else support staff. Phuntsok, a newcomer in the title role, reportedly spent months preparing for the physical and emotional demands of playing Norgay, while Hiddleston brings his usual restrained intensity to Hillary.
Dafoe rounds out the central trio as Colonel Hunt, the man who led the British expedition and somehow looks exactly like you’d expect Willem Dafoe to look in a 1950s mountain parka — intense, slightly haunted, and ready to judge your life choices. Caitríona Balfe also stars as expedition secretary Jill Henderson, because every mountain climb needs someone keeping the paperwork straight. Thinley Lhamo plays Tenzing’s wife Dawa, adding some much-needed domestic grounding to all the frostbite and oxygen deprivation.
The poster’s release comes just ahead of Tenzing’s premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, with stops at Toronto and Zurich to follow. It’ll hit select theaters on October 9 before streaming on Apple TV a week later, which gives prestige drama fans plenty of time to clear their schedules and buy a heavier jacket. Tenzing was originally developed at Netflix with Higher Ground Productions before Apple swooped in during a competitive bidding war, and you can see why they fought for it — this is the kind of handsome, sweeping historical drama that awards voters love to nominate and audiences love to watch while wrapped in blankets.
Filming took place in Nepal and at various high-altitude locations, because green screens apparently weren’t good enough for Peedom. Norbu Tenzing, Norgay’s eldest son, serves as an executive producer, which should keep the story honest. The film also marks Peedom’s narrative feature debut, which is a lot of pressure for a director used to documenting real climbers. Will it actually capture the scale and danger of the 1953 expedition? The poster certainly thinks so. We’ll find out soon enough whether the movie lives up to its own very ambitious marketing. Bring a thermos and maybe some hand warmers. You’ll want both.
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