Tom Hiddleston and Genden Phuntsok

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1:18Loki, Mr. Green Goblin, may we have a photograph? Yeah. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now.

1:53nicer than his usual apartment or studio setting. Yes, I'm in Telluride, Colorado. This is maybe my favorite weekend of the year at the Telluride Film Festival, where I get a chance to see some of the best films of the year, world premiering here, and also talking to some great filmmakers and actors like my guests on the podcast today. Of course, Tom Hiddleston, there is no greater friend to Happy Say Confused than Tom, and also a new friend, Gendin Putsak, who stars as Tenzing Norgay in this remarkable true story of course of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and their amazing ascent up Everest in 1953.

2:29This is a film that comes out in a few weeks. It comes out in October so consider this an extended kind of sneak preview of this film. As you'll sense from the conversation I have with Tom and Gendon, this was quite an undertaking, quite an adventure. They shot on location in Nepal and New Zealand I believe and it's a subject that Tom, who as you know from past conversations I've had with him I'm sure he's he's passionate about every project but this one in particular feels like a very special adventure for him so I'm I'm thrilled to share this with you guys this was shot right before their big world premiere here in and tell you right I got a chance to see the film a couple weeks ago back in New York but um a really appropriate beautiful idyllic setting for this story about nature and and and man's bond with nature, I suppose.

3:18Before we get to that conversation, a couple quick reminders, as always, check out our Patreon, patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused for early access, discount codes, live events. We've got a live one coming up with Joe Manganiello, October 13th, and many more to be announced very, very soon. I'll say quickly, just, you know, hopefully get a sense of the surroundings from this introduction here, but Telluride Film Festival, I can't say enough about it. I've been coming for five years now, and I've seen so many great films here, Wild Horse 9, the debut, if I can get my words out correctly today, off to see Alpha Gang in just a few minutes, starring Chris Pine, who I just ran into.

3:56He's petting a dog, of course. Like, this is the nature of Telluride. You run into folks all the time. You know, I've seen like Lea Seydoux running around. I've seen Emma Stone twice. I've seen, you know, literally some of the best actors and filmmakers on the planet. And it is such a cool, relaxed vibe because everybody is here pretty much for the right reasons. We all love film. We all love celebrating great film and no festival programs better than Telluride. So as long as I'm able to, I'm going to keep coming to this festival. And hopefully you guys can get a sense of how special it is from these conversations.

4:29Okay, I'm going to take you now to this conversation with Tom and Gendon. I'll note quickly that Gendon's first language is not English. So, I mean, props to him. I have no second language skills. So he's great, but he used an interpreter here and there. so there might be like you know so a little bit of a miscommunication or just you know language barrier at times but he's fantastic charming smart and wonderful so I'm thrilled that I got a chance to talk to him and obviously always thrilled to talk to Tom who is an amazing advocate for this film there's also some fun stuff a little bit of a doomsday in there a little bit of Mad Max talk because it was recently revealed to me in a previous conversation that Tom auditioned for Mad Max Fury Road way back when so I had to get that story out of him too obviously um all of that and more on this episode.

5:13I hope you guys enjoy it. Here you go. Gendon, a pleasure to meet you, sir. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Nice to meet you too. And Tom, our 300th adventure together has taken us to Telluride. For the first time. For the first time. We've had many adventures, but never in Telluride for me. Never together. Congratulations. I'm very excited to talk to you on a number of levels. This film is about to premiere here in Telluride. I can't think of a better, more suitable place for its premiere. tell me a little bit about I don't know just the appropriateness maybe of this festival does this feel like a good landing spot for Tenzing I think so here we are in the mountains the American mountains many miles from the high mountains of the Himalayas you've never been to Telluride before right?

6:04yeah it is the first time first time for me too we've done many things together for the first time yeah we had to for instance we had to um but it even just driving up here actually reminded me of i think most people land in montrose and uh driving up it's a night was it an hour and a half to drive into telluride and it reminded me and i said out aloud this makes me think of the trek that we did from Lukla to Base Camp of course the topography and the geology is slightly different but it was the pine forests and the rushing rivers and the big sky and then the mountains getting larger and larger the deeper you go yeah I mean we could talk about that for a full three hours that trek right?

6:55I was going to say I mean any film hopefully film can feel like an adventure But the nature of this film, the story you're telling, the way you shot it, it feels like a great adventure. I mean, for you, has any experience compared to this, Gendon? I mean, being front and center, playing this iconic role. Can you encapsulate a little bit about what it feels like to be here about to premiere this film? For us, also the movie, when we filmed this movie, also similar like the environment like this. Yes. And this movie festival is also like that. Yes. I have a feeling like we are very close to our movie and also our movie connected with the Colorado Movie Festival because the location is really nice and beautiful and also very close to our movie's view.

7:47Absolutely. So, yeah. This film, I mean, I was privileged enough to see this a couple weeks back before I got here. You both are excellent in it. It's very impressively well told by the director. Who previously had done a lot of documentary work that clearly she brought to this yeah Um, I reached out to you as soon as I saw it because I was so amazing I was so it was so I didn't know you were watching I didn't know there's a screening and it was I was so touched in and And moved by what you said. Yeah Well, I guess my question for you is because I could tell from your response and our conversations that look you take on all films They all hope to aspire to something great, but this does feel like a very unique Adventure in your life and career Entirely, entirely.

8:29It's been a long time coming as well. I first met Jennifer Piedem in the spring of 2023 and she sent me the script and this beautiful letter. And I found the script incredibly moving.

8:49just that the statement embedded inside the story which was to bring Tenzing from the background into the foreground and to reframe a familiar story about these two men who did an extraordinary thing an impossible thing an unimaginable thing a thing that had never been done before and the fellowship and the friendship between them and in her letter she said to me, I can't remember if I've told you this, she said, it was right at the end of the letter where she was outlining her kind of mission for the film and then she said, we've never met before but I have a sense that you're the kind of person who'd be up for an adventure like this.

9:34And my first question was, how did you know? Like, because I am. I'm down. This sounds like an adventure. But not, yeah. And I, when we met that first time, she said we're going to go to real mountains we're going to do this in nepal we're going to do this in the foothills of the himalayas we'll go to katmandu the british embassy of katmandu will be the british embassy of katmandu um and then and then the second half of it was in new zealand and edmund hillary is among the most beloved and revered of of like all new zealand citizens he's he's so he's held so dear in the minds of all New Zealanders he's still on the$5 note to be playing Edmund Hillary on the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand having never been the whole thing was just climbing in real mountains hanging off real crevasses the two of us roped together real snow, real ice real crampons real ice axes it was there is no uh there's no green screen there's no we were never in a studio this is all real and you feel it watching the movie you can having watched a thousand movies we all know whether intellectually or emotionally we can feel that you guys were out there um for you for gendon i mean like i as i understand that there was a bit of you know you have to get to know your co-star what was the process of of getting to know tom and vice versa getting to Nogendan you spent some time before filming together yeah yeah we should tell the story of where we met yeah I they said Tom will come there I'm more early than arrived in Nepal to just train or prepare for the movie yeah and then I went to Lugla to experience life and that's also Sherba and then Jennifer told me Tom will come but we have never met before but from the story of Mr.

11:36Edmonds Hillary and Tenzin and really no way about their relationship or something and then I walked from Lugla or from Kumjung to Lugla midtown it's mean it's like the airport so yeah like Tenzin Hillary airport the name is that and that's very meaningful for me and then I went there and in a wedding they come out of the airport and went and see him just to just like we are very familiar before I just give hug each other and then he also like that hug me and then we talk and talk and talking all the way to maybe almost two days to three four days I think four days to yeah and to ten Bushi yeah Tim Bushi and In all this experience, we have a very good time.

12:32And all the way we practice our dialogue, we discuss about our character, the relationship with us. And we discuss about how we should connect our spirit together, develop our friendship, our everything. So this is a really good experience for me. It was amazing. Yeah. How familiar were you with Tom's work? Have you seen a lot of the Marvel work, the non-Marvel work of Tom? Yeah, of course. I watched many Tom's films before. Of course, Tom has many fans in China. And in China, we call him Douxin. Douxin is a new name for you in China. Yeah, I'm aware of the name. I'm aware. So you know that. No, it's Shanghai, Beijing.

13:18Yeah. So I hold it very dear. It's a huge honor to have a nickname in China. Yeah, yeah. So I also watched most of his movie. Yeah. Yeah. You're very kind. Can we talk a little bit about, I mean, the physical challenges of this? As you say, you're on mountains. You're in crevices. Like, clearly, you're doing as much of this for real as possible. 100 % for real. Did you feel in danger at any point? No. I mean, no. I'll tell you why. Well, here's the thing. We were surrounded by the experts. We were surrounded by, to go back to, this was extraordinary, unprecedented, unrepeatable, unforgettable moment.

14:01I flew from London to Kathmandu. And then within, I think within 15 hours, I was in a helicopter from Kathmandu to Lukla. So Lukla is where you land if you want to trek to base camp. It's where they got to when in 1953, they would have walked from Kathmandu. And there's now a strip of runway inside the mountain. it's quite the landing in a fixed-wing plane or helicopter. The airport was built by Tenzing and Hillary in the 60s in order to bring in supplies to build schools and to help the Sherpa community and improve their living conditions and their facilities. And it's called the Tenzing-Hillary Airport.

14:44And there's a huge statue of both of them. Yeah. And I've been in Nepal for 24 hours. and suddenly, and it was just the two of us with two Sherpas called Poo Batashi and Dr. Nemo. Both of them are from the Kumbu Valley. Poo Batashi has summited Everest 21 times. No, no, 33. 33? Yeah, 33, the last one. He said his mother very worried about him to climb the mountain. And the last one is, he was on the middle of the way up in Mount Everest. and then his mother was passed. And after that, he stopped to climb the mountain. And Poo Boutashi features very prominently in Jen's documentary Sherpa and has dedicated his life to the mountain and helping people get to the top and get back down again safely.

15:40So you had Poo Boutashi as your guide in Sherpa culture, in their ways of life, in their techniques, their climbing techniques, but also their spirituality and everything. And we had Dr. Nima, who was born in Kumjong, which is on the way to base camp. And as I say, every tracker goes through Kumjong. And Dr. Nima was educated at the age of six at a school called the Hillary School, which Hillary built. And Dr. Nima is now my age, and he's a high-altitude doctor who's worked in the UK for the NHS. he's worked in the United States, he's worked in China, and he's a specialist at high altitude medicine.

16:21Both of them gifted. And it was just the four of us for four days, walking through the same terrain across the same, you know, wrought iron, high altitude bridges, the same pine forests, the same tea houses, walking with the donkeys and the mules. And, and, and the silences that we shared and also the conversations we shared and suddenly the sky on the third or fourth day starts to be filled with what seemed like gods right enormous mountains the biggest mountains in the world 8 000 meter plus peaks and one of them is everest and you see it for the first time a gentle reminder of what you're doing i know and we were so we had so many conversations about It was such a gift from Jen to us to have that time away from any kind of official pre-production, away from the cameras, just to get to know each other, to talk about the story we were going to share, the responsibility we both felt to inhabit the lives of these extraordinary men who changed the idea of what's possible.

17:33they both became the most famous men alive um after their summit but they were very humble and very grounded people yeah but as i said to you sorry to go back to a question we were completely surrounded by experts we had a mountain safety expert called guy cotter who himself has summited everest six times um a new zealander the son of ed cotter who was one of edmund hillary's best friends and they cut their teeth as climbers in the late 40s um with george lowe and earl ridderford so and we had barry blanchett all these all these people who love mountaineering who've dedicated their life to the mountains heard about the film and wanted to help us we were the only people almost who had never done it before um uh would either of you at this point now have you like would you want to scale Everest like for real like do it for real I worry for my fingertips I worry if actors need their fingertips that's important I just it's it's interesting also Everest itself is so busy and you know we know there's so many people up there and there's a wider conversation happening about how busy should the mountain be and and that do you need us that it should be a requirement that there's a certain level of expertise to even attempt it because mountains like the ocean can can render great serenity but they have so much power that if you don't know what you're doing um they can they can be very dangerous places remind you of the power of nature power of nature yeah there's different when you front stand front of the snow mountain and the mountain you feel you are so tiny humanity is so tiny front of the nature but we saw it yeah before we started filming we saw everest yeah together we got to we hiked it took about four or five days to tengboshu where there's still an old monastery and it's almost the last building yeah that you for any tracker or any hiker sees before they get to the mountain and then we didn't have time to go all the way because we had to get back but there was a helicopter to take us back to Lukla and before going back we just went through the valley over base camp and we clapped eyes on on Everest and looked up through the icefall the Kumbu icefall the western kum the south summit the neighboring faces of Lhotse and Nupse and what was extraordinary was my first sight of Everest was with you and we looked at it together We both saw Mount Everest for the first time.

20:15But our viewpoint also was exactly the same as Hillary's first viewpoint. He had been on a reconnaissance expedition in 1951 with this great romantic climber called Eric Shipton because Nepal had opened its borders to Western exploration in the late 40s. And they went up a peak that's opposite Everest called Pumori. and suddenly they looked down and they saw this route, a new route that was never available to Mallory or any of those climbers that was possible through the icefall. And I had exactly the same view of Everest for the first time. It gave me chills. It's so just knowing that he was there.

20:52He was there 70 years ago, looking exactly at this angle and then being selected, you know, because they were, it's worth saying as well, Tenzing. Yeah. Tenzing in 1953 on the British expedition, because the Nepal had every year they gave different permits to different nations to have a go, to make an attempt. So the previous year, the permit had been given to the Swiss with a great climber called Raymond Lambert. And Tenzing had been with Lambert. And they were only something like how many? They were 800 feet from the summit or 800 meters. They got so close. So by the time you get to the spring of 1953, Tenzing already has the distinguished honor of having been the highest ever.

21:46So he's already broken a world record and he's about to break another one. More Happy Say Confused coming up.

21:57All right, Outer Banks fans, it's time to listen up because you know I love this cast. Madeline Klein is one of the all-time great conversations we've had on Happy Say Confused. Chase Stokes was just on my dog show, who is a good guest. He's a big-time dog dad like myself. I got a chance actually to see Madeline and Chase and the whole gang the other day when I hosted the Outer Banks final season event for the fans out in Los Angeles. It was such a blast. And I know we're all maybe a little sad that the show is ending, but here's the great news. Not only do we have a great final season of Outer Banks on Netflix, but there's also a podcast for you.

22:28Did you know that? It's called Outer Banks, the official podcast. And as you'd expect from an official pod, this one has all the pogues that you love. It has Madeline and Chase and Madison and Jonathan and Carlecia. And it's hosted by a legit superfan in Ria Chiffo of Chicks in the Office. I've been listening. And honestly, it's the perfect companion piece to this final season. It's funny. It's intimate. It looks back at the entire run of the show, not just the final season. So trust me, if you love Outer Banks, this show should be at the top of your list to check out. You can watch Outer Banks, the official podcast, only on Netflix, or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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24:54It's remarkable because also, as I understand it, like both families were involved to a degree in this. Very deeply. In honoring the story. I mean, for you, what was important for you to convey about Tenzing's contribution? his spirit. What do you hope folks come away with seeing the film about this man? From Tenzin's story or Tenzin's character, I found that Tenzin and Edmitte Hillary also, they are very humble and low profile. And, you know, in their mind, just thinking about we are humanity. We want to help each other, forgive each other and respect each other. So become peace community. So that's really strong spirits warning like this to me.

25:46Because they don't want to say you are from this country, I'm from this country. There's never sort of those things. I found that from their story and from their book. They said, we are all from different countries, different places, but we are humanity and we just doing one thing. Just to climb the mountain. not others. So their mind is very pure and kind and compassion to all other people. Tenzin always thinking about how it can make the other people happy or comfortable. So this is very great character of Tenzin's. And he's always doing... So he said sometimes he's really hard because the Sharpa team think he just depends on the mountaineers.

26:42Yes. The other people. And the Europe people thought, oh, you are. Right. Yeah. He's caught between both worlds. And Tenzin is really hard between them. He always want to think so many ways to manage the problems. And yeah, he told about like this. I think it's really hard, but he's done a very good job. I mean, you kind of alluded to this, especially in these times. It's beautiful to see a story about two men seemingly very pure of heart who were just good men, good people, trying to accomplish something and knowing that they can't do it alone, that they need a partnership, a brotherhood. Every climber knows that you summit as a pair.

27:29and you share the risks you share the challenges you share the success nothing else matters and I want you to tell everybody about your connection to Norbu Tenzin and the family because before I started our work filming the movie and I really pushed myself forget myself and joined Tenzin's character and I watched all the documentary about Tenzin and I've written many books about Tenzin. And even I just turned off my phone and I deleted all my just amusement app. Right. I don't have anything. Just focus. Yeah, just 100 % focused on the scripture and feeling that. And after for a while, I really feel, yeah, I'm Tenzin like this.

28:24And well, the first time I met them, like Nobu or they are. I don't know why. I have a very special feeling that they are my family. Just like I am the soul of Tenzin and looking to them. Just between us have just our glasses. Our glass. Just looks I'm younger than them. But back of the glass, I'm looking at my sons. I have something like this feeling and I'm going to cry. But of course, I stopped. I've got goosebumps I don't know yeah that's very special for me yeah and also when I was Khomjong I wanted to speak the Sharpa language and I'm living in Pubu's home yes and I study my dialect and every day I speak to them Pubu and Pubu's wife Pubu's daughter and sometimes I go out and go to the village and I will speak my dialect to every people I meet there and sometimes I will speak my dialogue to the yaks, sheeps and horses.

29:30I saw it. I saw it. It was so sweet. You got to practice. You better run your lines. You got to run your lines with the yaks. It was so sweet. Every actor should have a yak. So they can just run the lines. Honestly, I saw it with my own eyes. The hours this man put in. My screen partner is either really dedicated or crazy. It was amazing. And I remember also, I mean, it was four days of days and nights and you learnt new languages. You learnt English and Sherpa, but you were also speaking Nepali and you had to learn the Sherpa dialect and the way of life. There's a place called Namchi Bazaar and all mountaineers who've been through the Khumbu will know what I'm talking about.

30:17It's sort of the last place you can buy supplies. It's high and everybody gets to Namchi. and um i remember when we left namchi that morning you put uh um the bags we were carrying on your forehead like you were a sherpa porter oh yeah yeah you would try that and that and we were going up the hill he had the bag so there's a leather strap which you put on your forehead oh yeah and it's really steep i mean it was a lot of it was a high climb to kumjung and i remember you start to see the yaks and and and we were running lines and doing bits of scenes and he would just do all his Sherpa dialogue to the yaks.

30:54And then Pupitasha would say, no, no, no, it's a slightly different bell sound. And he'd go, sorry, sorry. And you do it again. Always. But also there was this, the fact that we had this experience of doing it together was just, and you were looking out for me because you've been in altitude for a while and we were going quite high. I remember we were staying overnight at a tea house and I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Do you remember this? Yeah, yeah. It gets really cold up there. who sleep in your down jacket. I got up to go to the bathroom and I went back in and there was a knock on the wall and it was Gendon saying, Tom, are you okay?

31:29Are you feeling okay? I'm like, I'm okay. I'm okay. Hemsworth never did that. Right in the middle of the night, never knocking on the wall just to check on me in case I had altitude sickness. Here's the question. Do you ever practice lines with your dog? Does Bobby ever? Always, always. Seriously? Yeah. Do I really, not really, no. But I do, he will have heard them all. right of course because i take my lines on dog walks because i need to but i need to learn my lines on the move right and so i'm like okay let's go out and he starts wagging his tail and they go for a walk the ears prick up and i'll have my lines recorded sometimes and i'll be doing them out aloud he'll look back at me and go forget it he's running his lines i'll go find some rabbits or whatever you know this is the best way to get doomsday spoilers is to follow you on a walk just Talk to Bobby.