Jennifer Peedom recalls Tenzing's toughest filming days on set

Director Jennifer Peedom has recalled two of the most logistically challenging days on the set of Tenzing.

The upcoming biographical drama tells the true story of Nepalese-Indian Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand explorer Sir Edmund Hillary becoming the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953.

The film was logistically challenging to shoot in the New Zealand mountains, but two particular sequences stand out to Peedom as the most difficult.

"There was a day at the South Col in that scene where Bourdillon and Evans come back down unsuccessful, and it was really windy," she recalled in an interview with Cover Media. "And it was at the point where we were dangerously close of not being able to get off the mountain because the helicopters can't fly. And in harsh wind, it was minus 15 without the wind chill. So it was extremely cold. That was difficult."

She also named the scene where Tenzing and Hillary, played by Genden Phuntsok and Tom Hiddleston, reached the summit, noting that although they had a beautiful day, it was logistically difficult filming on a real summit of a real mountain with a skeleton crew.

"I'd sort of cut myself a bit of a platform into the side of the mountain. I was clipped into a safety rope and I was communicating with the actors up on the summit," she explained. "You couldn't move because everyone was clipped into a safety rope. So it was just logistically challenging. And we had to get it in one take; those footsteps to the summit, we weren't going to get twice."

Peedom added they were also "running out of time" to shoot Tenzing's emotional reaction to achieving his longtime dream, but Phuntsok "completely nailed it" despite the time constraints.

Tenzing, also starring Caitríona Balfe, Willem Dafoe and Thinley Lhamo, is now streaming on Apple TV.