{"id":1144,"date":"2021-03-09T19:45:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T19:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2021\/03\/09\/nyad-the-motion-picture-pre-facebook-live-briefing\/"},"modified":"2023-12-06T19:57:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T19:57:46","slug":"nyad-the-motion-picture-pre-facebook-live-briefing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/nyad-the-motion-picture-pre-facebook-live-briefing\/","title":{"rendered":"Nyad: The Motion Picture (pre-Facebook-Live briefing)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I suspect that Diana Nyad was not truthful when she said the “running in the other direction” part\u00a0<\/a> five years ago.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow, March 10 (Wednesday) at 3 p.m., Nyad will chat live on Facebook<\/a> about her recently-announced biopic, away from which she does not appear to be running.<\/p>\n

Before your watch party begins, here\u2019s your chance to brush up on Nyad\u2019s cinematic history.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

><((\u0317(\u0302(\u00b0>\u00a0 \u00a0 <\u00b0))\u0302)\u0316)><<\/p>\n

A Diana Nyad movie has been on her sonar for over 40 years. In 1978, both the Miami Herald<\/em><\/a> and Ms. Magazine<\/em><\/a> reported that she had written a screenplay about herself.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Robert Specland\u2019s script for a film based on Nyad\u2019s memoir, Find a Way<\/em>, made The Black List<\/a> \u201ca survey of the most liked unproduced screenplays of that year.\u201d (For more, see About The Black List<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

At the same time, though, Nyad was saying that she wanted to write the script herself. She gave no indication that anyone else had written a word. In October 2015, she said:<\/p>\n

\u2026I\u2019m probably gonna get a chance to write the adaptation for that film. But it\u2019s gonna be a collaboration. Whole bunch of people are gonna come in and say, \u201cno, no, no, no \u2014 we need to have this theme and this scene and whatnot\u2026.\u201d (KQED, 26 Oct 2015\u2014clip here<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But she\u2019d prefer to go it alone:<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t see myself sitting with a writer and telling them about my life,\u201d she says. (Seattle Times<\/a>, 22 Nov 2015)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At this point, she\u2019s also casting the lead role. In one interview, she mentions Sandra Bullock and Charlize Theron as possibilities. (KQED, 26 Oct 2015\u2014same clip as above<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Sometime during the next two years, though, Nyad realizes she\u2019s not up to writing the script. However, because she can\u2019t fail\u00a0 (not that this is a failure, but she sees it that way), Nyad gives a rambling justification for why she \u201cturned it over to a seasoned screenwriter\u201d whom she, of course, never names. I recommend reading Nyad\u2019s whole explanation \u2014 see question #1 here.<\/a> It\u2019s pure, unadulterated Nyadian nonsense.<\/p>\n

By late 2017, she says that she\u2019s not just considering Sandra Bullock, but that Bullock has shown interest:<\/p>\n

Hollywood has come knocking. And, yes, evidently they\u2019re going to do the story of my adventures and my life. Evidently Sandra Bullock\u2019s interested in playing my role.\u00a0(Visionary Women,\u00a0Keynote Speaker: Diana Nyad<\/a>, 1:27)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By late 2018, the movie remains in the works. \u201cThe feature film is evidently going to be made of my life and story,\u201d she tells Nely Gal\u00e1n. Nyad hopes the movie will be the timeless classic that Find a Way<\/em>, according to its author, proved to be.\u00a0 (Nely Gal\u00e1n, \u201cDiana Nyad Self Made Story\u201d<\/a>, 16:27)<\/p>\n

And now, with the die and the lead role cast, we again find Nyad fawning over and reaching for the stars:<\/p>\n

Ms Bening is now the exact age I was when I made the historic crossing. My hope for the film is that it will be a classic, that it will touch audiences for generations to come. And my hope for Ms. Bening is that this will be the role that will bring her the coveted Oscar. (Facebook<\/a>, 4 March 2021)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

><((\u0317(\u0302(\u00b0>\u00a0 \u00a0 <\u00b0))\u0302)\u0316)><<\/p>\n

But wait, didn\u2019t someone already make a movie about Diana Nyad?<\/h6>\n

Yes! Timothy Wheeler, Nyad\u2019s nephew, released The Other Shore: The Diana Nyad Story<\/em><\/a>, a documentary about his aunt, in 2013. That spring, He entered an unfinished version in a couple of film festivals. Just after his aunt walked up onto Smathers beach a few months later, Wheeler tacked on a new ending and posted The Other Shore<\/em> to his website. It premiered on Showtime that November.<\/p>\n

Nyad fell head over flippers for it \u2014 at first, anyway. She gushed about the film during her September 3, 2013, post-swim press conference:<\/p>\n

Tim has made an astounding film. It\u2019s creative. It\u2019s dramatic. There is no sports clich\u00e9 moment in it, not one\u2026 And Tim also was here yesterday shooting so that he can massage that ending that I wanted. The film was already beautiful. It\u2019s poetic, it\u2019s deep, it\u2019s really my life. What it is is my life\u2026.\u00a0 (view clip on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But here\u2019s aunt Diana two years later:<\/p>\n

And as a full disclosure, Timothy Wheeler is my nephew, is my personal nephew. And he\u2019s a very talented filmmaker. So is that the exact story I would have told? No, but it\u2019s his film. (36 seconds into this clip<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alas, how evanescent perfection ever proves.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have to get back to you on the difference between a \u201cpersonal\u201d nephew and the other kind(s). Meanwhile, here are two more of my personal fish:<\/p>\n

><((\u0317(\u0302(\u00b0>\u00a0 \u00a0 <\u00b0))\u0302)\u0316)><<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Nyad also talks about the biopic juggernaut at\u2026\n