00:00Can you talk about the physical challenge of the film, of the training and filming in the real mountains in
00:06New Zealand and Nepal?
00:08It looked very cold and very scary from my point of view.
00:12Well, yes, it was challenging and thrilling and important to say we did this for real.
00:21No soundstage, no studio, no green screen.
00:24We were on real mountains in the foothills of the Himalayas, in Nepal, and also on the high mountains of
00:31the South Island of New Zealand.
00:32So when you see Gendon climbing out of a crevasse as Tenzing, that's Gendon at the bottom of a crevasse
00:40and climbing up a wall of ice.
00:43When you see me as Edmund Hillary falling into a crevasse...
00:52Have you got me?
00:54Have got you!
00:55That really happened to Hillary, and it really happened to me.
00:58They dropped me into a crevasse and I had to climb out of it.
01:05Together, there's a 40-foot ridge of rock and ice on Everest called the Hillary Step now because Hillary was
01:11the first to summit it.
01:13And they did it together.
01:15And we found a 40-foot ridge of rock and ice outside Queenstown in New Zealand and we climbed it
01:20for real.
01:21And when you look over the edge, there's a precipitous drop all the way down to the bottom.
01:27Don't look down and don't fall down.
01:29Yeah.
01:31But it was, you know, we, it was our honor, our privilege, our thrill, because as actors, you know, we're
01:37not performing these, we're not performing, we're doing.
01:42We are living in the shoes of these great men and following in their footsteps, literally in the same environment.
01:50So, it was a challenge, but we embraced the challenge.
01:53Yeah, yeah.
01:54I think it's, I want to tell the point that the day we filmed the big crevasse.
01:59Yeah.
01:59And we filmed that two days and, yeah, I'm on the edge of the crevasse and I pull up, Tom,
02:09and all the day we filmed and I'm just cramped in the snow many times and really clamming, really cramped.
02:18And just some, your weight is hung, just pulled back from my body and I want to cry up front
02:25of more.
02:27And we, we, we cry, we shoot that many times and in the end, like the afternoon, when we rubbed
02:35and all my body's wet it.
02:37And, uh, I can feel this, the outset is really cold, but inside is really hot because I worked so
02:45hard.
02:45Yes, I've been working.
02:47And when I got to the, uh, the set, when I took off my jacket, I saw there's the fogs
02:54coming up here.
02:56Yes, yes.
02:57Is climbing a dangerous mountain like that something either of you would want to do, like for real, for fun?
03:03And do you understand why people like Tenzing and Hilary feel this calling to do what seems like an impossible
03:10task?
03:11Can I say climbing a mountain like Everest or climbing any high mountain is an act of worship.
03:17It makes you feel so alive.
03:21Um, it is, of course, incredibly dangerous and perilous, but it's that, it's, it's the focus and the attention that
03:30you need.
03:30That you're aware you are very small in the face of truly awe-inspiring, majestic beauty.
03:39Um, you know, the, the greatest wonders of this world.
03:43And yet, every step you make, you have to test the probity of the snow that you're on.
03:49You have to make sure you're not going to fall down a crevasse.
03:51Every, every, every knot you tie in a rope, every calculation you make about how much oxygen you have left,
03:58how much daylight remains.
04:01Um, it's, it's, it makes you feel intensely alive.
04:06And I think that is the, that is the passion and the love that Tenzing and Hilary had for these
04:12mountains is, is they felt free in, in the mountains, even as they had to be careful.
04:19Um, because it takes such competence.
04:22It takes such awareness.
04:24They revered mountains for the sake of the mountains.
04:26It wasn't about their ego.
04:27Um, would I do it?
04:29I'd love to.
04:30I'm a father of two young children.
04:32I love very much.
04:33Um, I think some of the risks of Everest itself is too great.
04:37It would be irresponsible.
04:37So I hold in my heart, the privilege of this experience.
04:42I got to live in the shoes of Edmund Hillary, who one of the greatest mountaineers of all time.
04:47Um, and maybe that's where my Everest expeditions end, but I'm already more fortunate than many others.
04:55How about you?
04:56Yeah.
04:57I also, I'm from mountain.
04:59I really love mountain and the nature.
05:01And especially you just walking in the valley and near the river and the sounds of the tree and the
05:11birds or the wind.
05:13That's really enjoyed.
05:14You know, that's, I think all the mountaineers, they climb or they just hiking.
05:19It's not just for some big purpose or target.
05:23I think the really mean is they want to really enjoy the nature from the lower altitude.
05:30You climb more higher, higher on the way.
05:33It's just, just, I told that enjoy the natural, the sound and the wind and the approach to the mountain
05:41and snow mountain, even summit.
05:44It's just, uh, feeling the nature and enjoy the nature.
05:50I think that's, that's what they really wanted.
05:53It's for me.
05:54I really, yeah, it is.
05:55And I really hope one day, one day I can try to climb Mount Everest.
06:01But I, I, I, I'm not believing that I can do that.
06:04But anyway, I would like to try to any, even just to go to the best camp or more higher,
06:09if I can do, I will try that.
06:11I really love that, yeah.
06:14I really love that.
