PL AY + PL AN + PAUSE + PEOPLE + PERFORMANCE + PICTURES + PREVIEWS

Portrait of a heroPlaying Sir Edmund Hillary

WeekendHerald August 13, 2016

Betweenthe sheetsA sexy theatricalcocktail

LuxuryFather’sDay prizeBoomrock bychopper

Saturday, August 13, 2016 | Weekend

4 cover story

Sir Ed’s life before andafter Everest is thefocus of a new drama,writes Sarah Lang

LowdownHillary, a six-part mini-series,

premieres on Sunday, August 21,8.30pm, on TV One

Andrew Munro, whoplays Sir Edmund Hillaryin the mini-series, isafraid of heights.

Hillary, the man

P laying Sir Edmund Hillary in amini-series would be a big deal forany New Zealand actor. But forAndrew Munro — whose handful of

screen credits include “Film School Tutor” inthe movie My Wedding & Other Secrets and“Guard Arthur” in the tele-feature FieldPunishment No. 1 — it’s a really big deal. It’shis first lead. It’s his big break.

And it’s a long way from his days playingin Dunedin punk band The Yams, workingas a chef in Parliament, and doing odd jobsin the TV and film industry, before movingto Auckland in 2005 to give acting a real crack.Now it’s paid off.

Hillary’s story has been told before — inbooks, a documentary, a feature film — butnever a drama series. Funded with nearly$6.5 million from NZ On Air’s Platinum Fund,the Great Southern Television productionwas filmed largely in Auckland, the SouthernAlps and Nepal between January and Aprillast year. The series’ creator, writer andexecutive producer, Tom Scott, based Hillaryon his biography of his friend — and onhundreds of hours of interviews aboutHillary’s most public and private moments.

Six hour-long episodes give the series thescope to be more than just the editedhighlights — and to focus onthe man, not just theclimber. It coverseverything fromHillary meeting hisfirst wife Louise(Amy Usherwood) todefying his pacifistfamily to go to war, andhis struggle to copewith stardom. Onlyone episode is aboutthe Everest ascent.“We all know heclimbed

mountains,” Munro says, “butthis is an insight into the manhimself”. Child actors playHillary aged 11 and 16, butMunro gets by far the mostscreentime, playing Hillary fromhis early 20s to late 50s, with alittle help from the makeupdepartment.

When Munro auditioned, he wasgoing for the part of George Lowe,Hillary’s longtime friend andclimbing companion. He had neverentertained the idea of playingHillary, but was called back toaudition for it. “I waited nervouslyby the phone. I really, really wantedthis job. When I got the call, I feltexhilarated and terrified. It’s sucha privilege to get to tell his story,but it was also daunting because theman is so special to New Zealand.”

It didn’t hurt that Munro hadworked with Hillary director DannyMulheron on the telefeature The Kick (playingAll Black Stephen Donald’s mate Dougie). Nordid it hurt that he has Hillary’s long face andpatrician nose. “The actor had to have aresemblance,” says producer Carmen Leonard,“but more importantly had to have the actingability. Fortunately for us, Andrew has both, andhis portrayal of Ed is absolutely stunning.”Munro’s prep included talking to Hillary’sdaughter Sarah. “She showed us some photosand videos and I read a bunch of his letters toLouise.” When they were flying to India forfilming, Munro ran into Hillary’s son Peter atthe airport. They chatted as they walked. “He

was interested in how it was coming togetherand how I felt about it.”

Initially, Munro didn’t know much aboutHillary, apart from his ascent of Everestand his humanitarian work in Nepal. He

also didn’t know how centralGeorge Lowe was to

Hillary’s life. Nor didDean O’Gorman, whoplays Lowe. “I readLowe’s book and

talked to Tom Scott,who knew George,”

O’Gorman says. “George

was quite humorous and light-hearted,whereas Hillary was more serious.”

So is this series something of a bromance?“Absolutely,” Munro says. “They were equalsas climbers, with some friendly competition.They respected each other immensely. Theycould say anything to each other. They werein incredibly dangerous situations together.”

Recreating those dangerous situations tookpluck, especially as Munro is scared ofheights. “On the first day in the SouthernAlps, Dean and I were helicoptered to the topof Mt Elie de Beaumount, 10,000 feet [3050metres] up. You can’t wear crampons in ahelicopter, so we’re wearing boots withoutmuch grip, standing on the edge of a giantdrop. One slip and you’re off the edge.”

Something even scarier happened the daythey finished filming and were in India,preparing to fly home. It was April 25, 2015:the day an earthquake killed nearly 9000people, injured nearly 22,000, and left 3.5million homeless. “I hid in the bathroomdoorway and watched the room spin,” Munroremembers. “When we realised Nepal hadbeen hit, it rattled everyone. We’d workedwith lots of people there, like our fixer andtranslator.” They quickly found out thosepeople were fine. “But we’d met locals in

alleyways and temples and I wonderedwhat happened to them. There was no

way of knowing.”During the 16-month lag between

filming and screening, Munro has yo-yoed between putting the series outof his mind and getting really excitedabout it. Recently he and O’Gormanwatched the episodes together. “I’m

always been a bit funny aboutwatching stuff I’ve done,” Munro says.

“Could I have done somethingdifferently? But then I sank into the story.

I’m incredibly proud of it.”