What a night for climbing. A sport that has steadily been pushed into the mainstream with the climbing wall fitness craze and Olympic inclusion got another serious pop culture boost when Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi won the Oscar for best documentary feature with Free Solo, National Geographic’s tour-de-force that captured Alex Honnold’s improbable gear-less ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan.
In all reality, it was more Honnold’s life and head space surrounding the actual climb, as well as the risk involved, that carried the film to the win at the Academy Awards. And Chai Vasarhelyi acknowledged as much when she thanked Honnold’s partner, Sanni McCandless, who added serious weight and brevity to the film with her part.
Just as Chin mumbled “oh s***” in disbelief, one of the “oh s***” moments of the night might’ve been when Honnold, who obviously still made the film with his athleticism, didn’t get a chance to speak, much to the chagrin of some climbing fans online, and was thanked by the directors as the music began playing, warning them to wrap up their speech.
But Honnold downplayed his work on the film after, saying he merely went climbing, as he would have anyway, why everyone else pushed hard on the project. “I know that I’m in the film, but I think I did the least actual work on the film,” he said with his usual humility. “I just lived for two years, had a great time and went climbing. And I know that some of you guys were toiling literally for years to make this film and I just want to say thank you personally to everyone who has worked on this.”
#FreeSolo team: Taylor Swift said she enjoyed the documentary https://t.co/wjyXghgB3M pic.twitter.com/OtMC2cvhf1
— Variety (@Variety) February 24, 2019
