Tenzing Retells the First Everest Ascent Through the Eyes of a Sherpa

On 29 May 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first people to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. The climb has usually been told as the triumph of a New Zealander and a British expedition, with the Sherpa in the background. Tenzing shifts the focus to the man who spent his whole life walking towards the mountain.

Genden Phuntsok plays Tenzing, Tom Hiddleston plays Hillary and Willem Dafoe plays expedition leader Colonel John Hunt. Jennifer Peedom directs from a screenplay by Luke Davies.

What the film is about

The story is built around the 1953 expedition, but flashbacks return to different periods of Tenzing’s life, with three actors playing him at different ages. Phuntsok carries the central part, the climb itself. Reviewers note that the film’s key relationship is not the friendship of the two climbers but Tenzing’s bond with the mountain.

Who is in it

• Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing Norgay;
• Tom Hiddleston as Sir Edmund Hillary;
• Willem Dafoe as Colonel John Hunt;
• Caitríona Balfe as Jill Henderson;
• Thinley Lhamo as Dawa Norgay.

Behind the camera

Jennifer Peedom knows Everest well: she made the documentaries Sherpa (2015) and Mountain (2017). Writer Luke Davies was Oscar-nominated for Lion. The cinematographer is Stefan Duscio, the music is by Rebekka Karijord and the editor is Simon Njoo.

Filming began in May 2025 in Nepal, in Kathmandu and the Everest region, and wrapped on 7 August in New Zealand. The film was produced by Apple Studios, See-Saw Films, India Take One Productions and Stranger Than Fiction Films. The running time is 125 minutes.

What critics say

The world premiere took place on 4 September at the Telluride Film Festival, followed by Toronto. Reviews are broadly favourable but measured. The Playlist called it a moving but predictable biopic, while Screen Daily found it too restrained to be truly stirring. AwardsWatch gave it a B+ and praised its shift of perspective, and Collider wrote that it rewrites what history got wrong. On Metacritic the film holds 65 out of 100 based on seven critics.

When to watch

Tenzing opens in select US theatres on 9 October and streams worldwide on Apple TV from 16 October. Cast and stills are on the film’s page in our AMDB database.