DR Visit

Bonnie and I are on our way down to the Dominican Republic (or THE DR, as they say) for our first visit to the movie set of NYAD.

Wait, let’s just stop right there. It’s almost surreal to have a motion picture about oneself underway. It’s a gigantic other layer of unreal to have the sublime Annette Bening playing you. Add to that the esteemed Jodie Foster playing Bonnie. Then the director team are the hugely talented filmmakers Jimmy Chin and his wife Chai Vasarhelyi, who won the Oscar for best documentary for their gripping film Free Solo. Just my opinion, their current doc The Rescue, the harrowing tale of the boys’ soccer team facing death in an underground cave in Thailand, is even more dramatic than Free Solo.

But even given all of that head-spinning stuff, they are calling the film NYAD! I am a lifelong storyteller, have been telling mine and others’ stories in memoirs, TED Talks, documentaries, stage appearances, an off-Broadway show in 2019. But this is the first time my story is in the hands of others and I can tell you, on one hand, it’s a challenge for me to let go of being in control of my own story. Yet, on the other hand, how could I be in better hands? This crew is first class and this movie will no doubt, not even close, draw the largest audience to my story that I’ve ever known.

Bonnie and I started spending time with Jodie and Annette last November. They are as classy, as smart, as experienced, as funny, as warm, as dedicated, as trustworthy as any two individuals we have ever met. On their last night in Los Angeles, before leaving to start filming a couple of months ago, I got a bit teary and said to them that we could not possibly think of two actresses we would be more honored to have play us. And they in reply, after all the dozens of films they have each made, told us the feeling was mutual, in that they feel honored to act out our story.

We have had weekly or so reports from the set. Annette has evidently wowed the crew with her endurance. I am so darn proud of her. Jodie has supposedly become Bonnie. We just can’t wait to spend time with our two alter-egos….and witness the art they and the rest of the pedigreed crew bring to their craft.

Stay tuned for notes from the set.