Synopsis : A remarkable true story of tenacity, friendship and the triumph of the human spirit, Nyad recounts a riveting chapter in the life of world-class athlete Diana Nyad. Three decades after giving up marathon swimming in exchange for a prominent career as a sports journalist, at the age of 60, Diana (four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening) becomes obsessed with completing an epic swim that always eluded her: the 110 mile trek from Cuba to Florida, often referred to as the “Mount Everest” of swims. Determined to become the first person to finish the swim without a shark cage, Diana goes on a thrilling, four-year journey with her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster) and a dedicated sailing team.
Rating: PG-13 (Some Strong Language|Sexual Abuse|Brief Partial Nudity|Thematic Material)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin
Producer: Andrew Lazar, Teddy Schwarzman
Writer: Julia Cox
Release Date (Theaters): Limited
Release Date (Streaming):
Runtime:
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Black Bear Pictures, Mad Chance
Press Conference with Actresses Jodie Foster and Annette Bening
Q : First thing first: how did both of you come aboard on this project?
Jodie Foster : I knew Diana and Bonnie from Christmas parties at friends’ houses, and I just loved them immediately. So my first connection, really, was knowing them personally. Bonnie is such an eccentric character and I adore her, so that was the whole reason I was there. But then the most important part for me was Annette Bening coming aboard, I came in second. Somebody mentioned Annette and I was like, “I’m there.”
The thing that really drove me to Nyad was this idea of two 60 year old women who didn’t end up having kids, they were lovers early on but friends forever, and that relationship is everything. These two women couldn’t have done it without each other, on both sides, in many ways they completed each other. I thought that was really beautiful.
Annette Bening: And it’s such an important thing to see this. I know a lot of women that feel this incredible friendship. Jodie and I have become friends. I mean, it’s sort of how we keep going in life, is our friends. Of course we have partners, kids, we have loved ones, but there’s something about friendship that is so powerful and it’s not always easy to dramatize. So, within the context of the swim, it’s kind of the perfect way to dramatize why people need each other, how we need each other, and what it is we do for each other.
Q : What was the key elements for you to portray Diana Nyad?
Annette Bening : Like a lot of very strong willed people, she has inner softness and a vulnerability, of course, that I was interested in, that is part of our job when we’re playing real characters. One thing I really love is when you’re playing someone, you become their advocate. You are there fighting for them, for they want, for what they need, given the circumstances of their lives.
Diana let us take some liberties in telling the story because we knew that we needed a character arc, and so we played around a little bit with the facts that she’s an enormously charming person. She just takes over a room. So charismatic. How could you swim for 53 hours and not have an unusual personality? Behind that very strong will you can find her inner softness, and an incredible intellect. I love all of that about her.
One of the things that we have gained in storytelling, as women, is that we don’t have to play stereotypes anymore. We don’t have to play anymore this idea of a woman, or this idea of a mother, or a woman in her 60’s, or a grandmother, or a woman in her 20’s. We are getting rid of that.
Q : Did you build a friendship in order to make their relationship natural and believable?
Annette Bening : It was very natural to me. I knew Jodie professionally. I had seen her work. There’s something about talent that is undeniable, working with talented people is energy. Certainly Diana and Bonnie have incredible energy, but so does Jodie. And there’s the professionalism that comes with that. It is so incredibly satisfying being around somebody who knows how to work, knows how to show up, knows how not to be a problem, not have an ego issue but just wants the best for the project.
I really believe that acting is just listening and reacting and being present with the person that you’re with. That’s the joy of it, the adrenaline. When you have someone like Jodie to collaborate with, then you really don’t have to work. You just respond to what you’re seeing. It’s a great gift. In terms of the friendship, that just happened very organically. Jodie is always the smartest person in the room, she has more experience than anyone.
I just tried to be as agreeable and as charming as I could. She did an astonishing work: Bonnie is an incredible woman, and the way Jodie studied her and followed her and just kind of got inside of her skin, it’s just impressive. I’m really, really grateful to her also because she took care of me when we were shooting.
Jodie Foster : For whatever reason, I haven’t done a lot of movies where two people are doing something, so Nyad has been a revelation. It was just so lovely, so pleasant, and also just to be able to support somebody that I admire so much like Annette, the way Bonnie really admires Diana.
Q : Has there been a moment during the shooting that in some way cemented your relationship?
Annette Bening : There’s a question at one point in the story as to whether Bonnie will stick with Diana or not, and it’s an important part of the narrative: the way that Jodie played the scene that followed that question really got me. And again, when it’s all there in your partner, then all you have to do is be present and breathe and watch and listen.
Jodie Foster : I don’t want to ruin the movie because I don’t want to tell anybody what happens, but there is a last scene in the film that just really got me. After this long film that we’ve done, after an entire year of training to play Diana, the transformation that she went through, the hardship, being in the water constantly, to watch her come out of that water, that was just so moving to me, and I didn’t realize that that was gonna happen in the moment.
Q : Which has been the most challenging scene to shoot in an emotional way?
Annette Bening : One of them was talking about the coach. You know, there is this part of this story that we really felt incredibly delicate and important to get right. Diana was sexually abused by her swim coach all through high school. This is a very common thing in women’s sports, whether it’s tennis or swimming or gymnastics.
We wanted that to be in the story but the right way, because we didn’t wanna oversimplify it. There was a moment when Diana does talk about that a little bit in the movie, when I talk about it, so that was really important to me that we tried to get, just showing the complexities of what that experience is like for people who go through that as kids.
Jodie Foster : For me it was the scene where Bonnie jumps in the water. She actually never did that but I thought there was something emotionally compelling about it, and hopefully the magic of film will allow for some embellishments like that. When Diana is giving up the audience can experience that Bonnie is the one thing that allows her to find herself again and keep going. Because I think everybody needs that.
Q : Can you talk about the importance of getting films like this in front of young women looking for strong female role models?
Annette Bening : It’s not just for young women. It’s for young men. It’s for middle aged people. It’s for everyone, just like any great sports story. It’s about something more than gender and age. Diana decided to do it when she was 60, she felt she couldn’t do it when she was in her 20s, because she didn’t have the mind that she has now. That’s the mentality of the great athletes.
It’s so interesting to talk to them and to explore their stories. It’s the mind which eventually you’re confronted with. Certainly as a swimmer. Diana’s book is titled Find a Way, and that’s really what the movie is about. The movie is about her determination. And that is something I want young women to see. Because too often we just don’t do what we think. We all do that. We procrastinate or we just don’t act because there are so many reasons not to. The story is all about the reasons not to. But in this case she said “No, I have to. I have to find a way.” So, it’s a kind of gift to the rest of us.
Q : By working on this film that inspired you to pinpoint a new goal?
Jodie Foster : Diana and Bobbie are incredibly inspiring people and I feel like just the way they touched me, it is sort of life changing. The first thing that Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, one of the directors, told me is: “This is the story of a woman who’s not done.” She wakes up one day and says, “The world thinks that I’m done, but I’m not.”
I didn’t really a hundred percent understand how important that was until maybe recently, and I felt I’m not done either. You do have to reinvent yourself as you get older, and maybe that is a gift to young women: there is something about reinventing yourself with your new body that you love and with the wisdom that you have that’s so important.
Annette Bening : Like Jodie was just saying, at every stage of life there’s all of these changes. There’s a lot of adjustments that have to be made in acceptance. And Diana has done that in a way that’s remarkable. So, I aspire to that.
Here’s the trailer of the film.
Nyad is on Netflix now.