The anticipated biopic “Nyad,” with Annette Bening in the titular role, tells the story of endurance swimmer Diana Nyad’s epic swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark tank, a journey she made at age 64 after three incomplete attempts.
But it also delves into an abiding friendship between queer women and chosen family.
Double Oscar-winner Jodie Foster plays Nyad’s best friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll, who was at Nyad’s side for the 110-mile swim acting as guide, cheerleader, caregiver, and nutritionist while also thinking on her feet to ward off sharks and jellyfish.
Netflix has released the first clip from the film that will drop in theaters Oct. 20 and will stream on Nov. 3.
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The clip establishes the deep friendship the two built over decades when Bening’s Nyad announces to Foster’s Stoll over a friendly game of ping pong that at 60 she intends to attempt the elusive Cuba-to-Florida swim again.
“What’s that? You got raccoon eyes…. Have you been swimming?” Stoll asks Nyad as they’re about to bat a Ping-Pong ball around.
Nyad answers in the affirmative, and Stoll follows up with, “What’s it been 30 years, since you put on a pair of goggles?”
“That’s right,” Nyad says, adding that it felt “great” to be back in the water. Nyad then reveals to Stoll that she’s ready to attempt her dream again and tries to convince Stoll why she should be her coach. The two banter like only lifelong friends could about the reasons to swim or not to swim from Cuba to Florida.
Adapted from Nyad’s memoir, “Find a Way,” the film from writer Julia Cox and directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin begins with Nyad in her early 60s ahead of her 2011 Cuba to Florida swim.
The film opens with Nyad — despite her successful career in sports journalism — determined to complete the swim she first attempted in 1978 but was forced to quit after 42 hours due to massive waves.
At the time of her decision to get back in the water, Nyad had completed major swims like circling the island of Manhattan in seven hours and 59 minutes and completing what was then the longest swim in history in 1979 — 102.5 miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
An ally to the LGBTQ+ community and the mother to a trans son, Bening played a lesbian opposite Julianne Moore in Lisa Cholodenko’s 2010 film “The Kids Are All Right.”
A best actress Oscar winner for 1988’s “The Accused” and 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs,” Foster came out publicly at the Golden Globe Awards in 2013. Foster previously played a queer character in 1984’s “Hotel New Hampshire.”
The film costars Rhys Ifans as the navigator guiding Nyad and the team through potentially treacherous waters.
This article originally appeared on Advocate.com, and is shared here as part of an LGBTQ+ community exchange between Q Voice News and Equal Pride.
