As reported yesterday on Stuff, Wellington-based Canadian Chad Moffitt has won the coveted role of national icon Sir Edmund Hillary in Beyond the Edge, a 3D film recreating Hillary’s historic ascent of Mt Everest in 1953.
The way in which Moffitt won the role is quite unique. He simply sent in a photograph of him holding a $5 (on which Hillary appears) – see below. His likeness to Sir Ed is remarkable – Moffit is just 3cm shorter and only 5 years older than Hillary when he “knocked the bastard off”. And it was his striking resemblance that won over the filmmakers and Hillary’s family.
A former animator at Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital, Moffitt has only a couple of acting credit to his name. But the film’s producer Matthew Metcalfe (Dean Spanley, Love Birds) said they did not want a famous face in the role. Chad currently works part-time at a Wellington hypnotherapy clinic.
Beyond the Edge promises to provide largely unknown details of how Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to conquer the world’s highest peak. The production has the Hillary family’s blessing and the Royal Geographical Society in London (who were joint sponsors of the 1953 expedition) is providing the filmmakers with access to rare photographs and original materials. Director Leanne Pooley, best known for The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls and TV’s Shackleton’s Captain, is set to helm.
Congratulations Chad. We know you’ll do Sir Ed proud.
No firm release date yet, but we’ll likely see the film later this year.
What do you think of the choice for Sir Ed? Looking forward to this epic recreation?
