Free Solo filmmakers dive into narrative with thrilling swim drama Nyad on Netflix
- Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin take documentary talents to tell story of Diana Nyad’s treacherous 110-mile swim from Cuba to Key West
- Annette Bening plays 64-year-old title character, with Jodie Foster and Rhys Ifans also in cast
Filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have given audiences thrilling and sometimes terrifying front-row seats to incredible feats of human ambition in their documentary work.
From Alex Honnold’s white-knuckle climb up Yosemite’s El Capitan in the Oscar-winning Free Solo, to the claustrophobic blackness awaiting the cave divers who rescued the trapped football team in Northern Thailand in The Rescue, their understanding of the personalities capable of such impossible accomplishments is almost unparalleled in filmed storytelling.
It is not surprising, then, that they would be interested and uniquely equipped to tell the story of Diana Nyad and her treacherous 110-mile (177km) swim from Cuba to Key West at age 64 for their first narrative film, Nyad now available to watch on Netflix.
But there would be at least one big difference in bringing Nyad to life: actors.
“In nonfiction, you observe. You’re like the closest listener,” Vasarhelyi said.
In fictionalised narrative, she found creative collaborators in their decorated core cast: Annette Bening, who plays Nyad, Jodie Foster as her friend and coach Bonnie Stoll, and Rhys Ifans as the ship’s navigator.