Annette Bening and Jodie Foster are teaming up to bring an incredible true story to theaters.
NYAD stars Bening as Diana Nyad, a former marathon swimmer (and lesbian) who left the water to become a sports journalist. In her younger years, she tried multiple times to make the daunting 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, but ultimately was unable to do so for various reasons.
She achieved other incredible goals during her swimming career, including swimming around Manhattan in under eight hours in 1975 and making the 102-mile journey from The Bahamas to Florida four years later.
But failing to complete the swim from Cuba to Florida haunted her, and at 60, after not swimming for 30 years, Nyad decided to try again. The film follows her during the four years it took from there to make that dream a reality with the help of her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (Foster).
"There's something of that still left in me that has a competitive ego," she told Out back in 2012 when she was prepping for the feat. "I could care less if this swim becomes a new world record or if my goggles are in the Smithsonian Institution. I'm sure if all those things happen, I'll be honored. And I surely don't want the disappointment of not making it. I don't want this to be a failure. It's been too long and too hard, and I can't do it again."
NYAD was directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin from a script by Julia Cox, and is based on Nyad’s memoir, Find a Way. It also stars Rhys Ifans, Ethan Jones Romero, Luke Cosgrove, Jeena Yi, and Eric T. Miller.
It will be released to select theaters on October 20 before coming to Netflix on November 3. In the meantime, check out the first look at stills from the movie below.
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
