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While cameras rolled thousands of metres above sea level, alpine supervisor and safety co-ordinator Guy Cotter carried one of Tenzing's most important roles: getting everyone off the mountain safely at the end of each day.
Flying in from Nepal's sweltering 40C heat to Aoraki Mt Cook's bone-chilling -23C, the cast of Tenzing, including Tom Hiddleston who plays Sir Edmund Hillary, arrived in New Zealand for a gruelling mid-winter shoot last year.
Even Guy Cotter, a mountaineer with more than three decades of experience and the son of a climber who accompanied Sir Edmund in the Himalayas, wore more layers than he would on an Everest expedition to prepare for standing in extreme temperatures for longer than usual.
"Sometimes, I was rugged up like a Michelin man just to maintain my warmth."
Directed by Jennifer Peedom, the upcoming film focuses on the real life story of Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who achieved a world-first summit of Mount Everest with Sir Edmund.
For six “very intense” weeks, Cotter and about 20 of his Adventure Consultants guides were responsible for keeping as many as 150 people safe in a high-risk alpine environment, including actors, stunt doubles and crew.
It was a delicate balancing act. Call off filming at the first sign of bad weather and the production risked costly delays. Push on too long and safety could be compromised.
"During the process of filming it, I was scared shitless the whole time.
"When you're taking a lot of people who aren't mountaineers into a mountain environment, you need an additional layer of safety and well-being applied across the board to everyone... the potential for things to go wrong was very, very high and the only way to address that is extremely skilled support staff that I had."
Most mornings began before dawn with a weather check and setting up. Cotter and his team would already be on the mountain several hours before five and six-seater helicopters slowly ferried in actors, stunt doubles, crew, filming gear and even toilets.
Tricky scenes required actors to work beneath camera cranes anchored into the mountain, like the scene that depicts the famous ‘Hillary Step’ captured on The Remarkables’ steep rockface cone. Others involved navigating potentially hazardous crevasses while crews raced against fading winter light.
"We'd sometimes be filming as helicopter loads are still flying in… sometimes there was only an opportunity to shoot a scene once, maybe twice, before we had to keep moving on, otherwise we're going to run out of time."
Never mind New Zealand's famously unpredictable alpine weather.
On one day beneath Aoraki Mt Cook, conditions shifted without warning.
"We didn't see it coming, but we heard from the helicopter pilots that the weather was changing rapidly. We just had to cut the filming and just fly everyone out, just at the drop of a hat.
"We even had to leave all of the equipment behind, all packed up in safe boxes, and we only just got out before the weather closed in and we would have been shut out for three days through a big storm."
Not everyone was fazed by that prospect though.
"Tom Hiddleston seemed to think that that was very exciting. He would love to have got stuck in a hut and have to stay overnight. He was relishing that thought."
Always prepared for the worst, Cotter kept a “safety cache” of emergency tents, sleeping bags, food and a stove in case they really did become stranded.
Enduring the extreme cold, having their hands warmed up and hot drinks offered, the actors were still faithful to their work, learning mountaineering techniques of the era depicted in the film, he says.
"They [Hiddleston and Genden Phuntsok, who plays Tenzing Norgay] were both very passionate about what they were doing and really grasped the concept of having to look the part on the mountain. So they really put a lot of effort into their training and preparation so that they could carry the movie."
Authenticity extended to the gear. Specially made tramping boots from Europe were transformed into period-style expedition boots and crampons, while 40 to 50 ice axes had to be 3D-printed for the Sherpas and actors, he says.
Filming between July and August had a silver lining though. The quieter tourist season meant more available resources, while the clear winter air, pristine snow and dramatic light helped recreate Everest on New Zealand soil.
"That was what was alluring about doing it at that time,” Cotter says.
"The quality of the footage, I think, everyone will find amazing. It's a very New Zealand story, but it's a different take on it. I think most people will really appreciate that."
Cotter was first approached about the project eight years ago, but it wasn’t until the Australian arm of See Saw Films, the studio behind The Power of the Dog, picked up the script that they began scouting locations and coordinating mountain logistics.
The project carries a special meaning for Cotter. His father joined New Zealand's first Himalayan expedition in 1951, two years before Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest.
"For Nepal, this will be a very important movie because it really showcases an Indigenous people who have done incredibly well, the very quiet achievers.
"And to see Tenzing being recognised and Sherpa being recognised, Nepalis being recognised for their role in what happened in the Himalayas and still does today, I think is a wonderful tribute and a good reminder about the role that Tenzing had in New Zealand having its star player Ed Hillary reach the summit along with him."
Filming, which happened at The Remarkables, Aoraki Mt Cook’s Tasman Glacier, Hochstetter Dome, Twizel and aerial shots from Mount Earnslaw, was carried out with support from the Department of Conservation, with safeguards in place around safety and environmental impact, Cotter says.
- Tenzing will be available for streaming in New Zealand via Apple on October 16.
