{"id":16518,"date":"2026-01-11T03:54:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=16518"},"modified":"2026-01-11T03:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:54:39","slug":"tom-hiddleston-on-playing-sir-edmund-hillary-filming-in-nz-and-returning-to-the-night-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=16518","title":{"rendered":"Tom Hiddleston on playing Sir Edmund Hillary, filming in NZ and returning to The Night Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">The 44-year-old  is possibly best known as the mischievous Loki in Marvel\u2019s expansive superhero cinematic universe (including the Taika Waititi-directed <i>Thor: Ragnarok<\/i>), but he\u2019s far from a one-trick pony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">His initial 2016 portrayal of British military man turned hotelier Jonathan Pine in the critically acclaimed first season of<i> The Night Manager<\/i> (the creation of spy writer John le Carr\u00e9) brought him a whole new legion of fans across the world (as did a short, but highly publicised stint as Taylor Swift\u2019s boyfriend). The role &#8211; the acting one, not the romantic one<i> &#8211; <\/i>also nabbed him a Golden Globe award. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Hiddleston is no stranger to the stage either, starring in the likes of <i>Coriolanus<\/i> and, in 2019, <i>Betrayal, <\/i>where he met his fianc\u00e9e Zawe Ashton. The couple recently welcomed their second child.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Hiddleston returned to <i>The Night Manager <\/i>and the role of Pine after a 10-year break. He played Hillary in the upcoming biopic <i>Tenzing<\/i> not long after. He found the two characters \u201cfascinating companions to live alongside\u201d and says he admires them both for different reasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cBoth of them were \u2018fit and strong\u2019, as Hillary would have said,\u201d Hiddleston notes, putting on a remarkably convincing Kiwi accent to get into character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201c[The phrase] actually became one of the things I kept saying to myself to try and keep myself in the New Zealand accent: \u2018as a party, we were fit and strong, so we had a good shot\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\"><i>Tenzing<\/i> follows the perilous journey sherpa Tenzing Norgay (played by Genden Phuntsok) and Hillary undertook to become the first people to summit Mt Everest. Hiddleston describes Hillary as an \u201cextraordinary human being\u201d who achieved one of mankind\u2019s most remarkable feats.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-11\">\n<div class=\"article-media vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\" data-test-ui=\"article-media\">\n<figure class=\"figure\" data-test-ui=\"figure\"><figcaption class=\"article-media__caption\" data-test-ui=\"figure__caption\">Edmund Hillary, (left) and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay after their ascent of Mount Everest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><button aria-label=\"full screen\" type=\"button\" class=\"article-media__full-screen-button\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__full-screen-button\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\"><i> <\/i>The film, which also stars <i>Outlander<\/i>\u2018s Caitriona Balfe and Willem Dafoe, was primarily shot in the Southern Alps around Aoraki\/Mt Cook in 2025, as well as at the Remarkables near Queenstown. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI spent six or seven weeks [in New Zealand] last winter &#8230;  July and August of 2025 we were there, and it was amazing,\u201d Hiddleston recalls. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">He describes his first time in New Zealand as a \u201conce in a lifetime\u201d experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cMy enormous gratitude to those people I met and worked with in New Zealand. It was a bucket list moment for me to go down there and to be in those mountains with those mountaineering professionals and with the New Zealand film crews. The beauty was breathtaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-11\">\n<div class=\"article-media vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\" data-test-ui=\"article-media\">\n<figure class=\"figure\" data-test-ui=\"figure\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SJEFZKT2IJHDJDJ5DSKMEDIOWU.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Hiddleston (centre carrying brown bag) is pictured at the staging area below The Remarkables for an upcoming film where he plays Sir Edmund Hillary. Photo \/ Supplied\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\" \/><figcaption class=\"article-media__caption\" data-test-ui=\"figure__caption\">Tom Hiddleston (centre carrying brown bag) is pictured at the staging area below The Remarkables for an upcoming film where he plays Sir Edmund Hillary. Photo \/ Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><button aria-label=\"full screen\" type=\"button\" class=\"article-media__full-screen-button\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__full-screen-button\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">With <i>Tenzing<\/i> filming now wrapped, Hiddleston is able to reflect on his <i>Night Manager<\/i> journey, after the 10-year gap. Set four years after the original series, Pine is still deeply involved in covert operations, yet is faced with a new threat, as successors attempt to fill the space left by arms dealer Richard Roper\u2019s (Hugh Laurie) fallen empire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">The decade-long gap, Hiddleston says, was a blessing, giving him more time for Pine to change just as the world itself had changed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe world has been a fascinating, complex place. So many things have happened at home and abroad, to all of us. In lots of ways, the world is a little more uncertain and fragmented. But perhaps it\u2019s not. Perhaps that\u2019s just my perspective,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI love the fact that I could embrace that I myself was 10 years older. And my inclination or my instinct about Pine was that he is, by the end of the first series, wide awake and possessed of a curiosity that he\u2019s seen behind the curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-11\">\n<div class=\"article-media vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\" data-test-ui=\"article-media\">\n<figure class=\"figure\" data-test-ui=\"figure\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CYQBPEV6LZG6HEXQRANM53O3TE.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Hiddleston says taking on the role of Sir Ed after playing Pine again after ten years was &quot;once in a lifetime&quot;. Photo \/ Des Willie, Amazon MGM Studios\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\" \/><figcaption class=\"article-media__caption\" data-test-ui=\"figure__caption\">Tom Hiddleston says taking on the role of Sir Ed after playing Pine again after ten years was &#8220;once in a lifetime&#8221;. Photo \/ Des Willie, Amazon MGM Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><button aria-label=\"full screen\" type=\"button\" class=\"article-media__full-screen-button\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__full-screen-button\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">It was also a great chance for Hiddleston to work alongside Oscar-winner Olivia Colman again, who also starred in the first series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe\u2019s the best. She\u2019s so honest in her approach to life and the work,\u201d he says, describing his castmate as \u201cvery straightforward, a complete professional, very playful, mischievous, and caring\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe wants everyone to be okay. And I\u2019m so proud of her to the extent that any pride is permissible, because in the 10 years since we last worked together, she\u2019s won an Oscar and become a national treasure in many nations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">Whether Hiddleston will become a New Zealand national treasure after his portrayal of Hillary is still to be determined &#8211; <i>Tenzing<\/i> does not have a current release date.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\">But the actor finishes our Zoom by reassuring me that the chance to embody one of history\u2019s greatest Kiwis was, for him, an \u201cunforgettable, unrepeatable experience\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\"><i>The Night Manager: Season 2 <\/i><i>starts streaming on Prime Video January 11<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"vUWuwjCGukMuO\" style=\"display:none\"><b>Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/entertainment\/tom-hiddleston-on-playing-sir-edmund-hillary-filming-in-nz-and-returning-to-the-night-manager\/premium\/HDBWYHH4ORCKHCMDUBSA6VF4TE\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 44-year-old is possibly best known as the mischievous Loki in Marvel\u2019s expansive superhero cinematic universe (including the Taika Waititi-directed Thor: Ragnarok), but he\u2019s far from a one-trick pony. His initial 2016 portrayal of British military man turned hotelier Jonathan Pine in the critically acclaimed first season of The Night Manager (the creation of spy &#8230; <a title=\"Tom Hiddleston on playing Sir Edmund Hillary, filming in NZ and returning to The Night Manager\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=16518\" aria-label=\"Read more about Tom Hiddleston on playing Sir Edmund Hillary, filming in NZ and returning to The Night Manager\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Tom-Hiddleston-on-playing-Sir-Edmund-Hillary-filming-in-NZ.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16520,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16518\/revisions\/16520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}