‘Skywalkers’ Couple on Risking Death, Breaking Laws and Malaysia Escape – MASHAHER

In Netflix’s “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” Russian rooftopping couple Ivan “Vanya” Beerkus and Angela Nikolau mount some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers without a safety net — breaking laws, deceiving security guards and running from authorities in the process.

If it were a scripted movie, some of it would feel too unrealistic.

In climbing Malaysia’s Merdeka Tower — which, at 2,227 feet tall, is the second-tallest structure in the world after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa — Beerkus and Nikolau pull off the ultimate heist with the ultimate stakes, while ignoring orders from director Jeff Zimbalist. 

“‘You’ve got to get out of there. We can’t risk an arrest. We know how dangerous getting arrested here in Malaysia is. … It’s not worth it. Don’t do it,’” Zimbalist recalls telling Beerkus and Nikolau sometime during their 30-plus hour climb. “Sometimes they would override us, and they would do their own process. So, the best we could do in those circumstances was tell them to be safe and tell them that the film didn’t need them to risk their lives, and then the rest was up to them.”

Discussing their adrenaline-pumping documentary with Zimbalist via Zoom, Beerkus and Nikolau are nestled in their new home in New York. They can’t keep their hands off of each other, interrupting each other with laughter, rubbing cheeks and combing their fingers through each other’s hair. After watching the movie, which premiered at Sundance and debuted on Netflix on July 19, it feels like a miracle that they’re both alive, let alone still together.

The duo were joined by Zimbalist and “Skywalkers” co-director Maria Bukhonina, who translated Beerkus and Nikolau’s responses from Russian. 

When did it become apparent that you all would be making a documentary? In other words, Jeff, when did you come on board this process?

Jeff Zimbalist: I had done some very amateur rooftopping myself in my teens and 20s, which was in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. I knew that it had a profound impact on my life, and I wanted to find a story in that space that resonated as deeply as my own experience urban exploring had. But for 15 years, I was just seeing daredevils risk their life for likes, and that wasn’t enough of a story for me. I had sort of a transcendent drawing to the unknown, and felt like I was able to face my fears on my own terms. 

It wasn’t until Angela burst on the scene in late 2015 as the first female rooftopper, and she was posting that she didn’t want to be like the guys, that she wanted to do it her own way. She genuinely was creating what I thought of as art. She was referencing role models like Basquiat and Warhol, and wasn’t looking at, like, the Kardashians or Jake Paul as influences. Here’s a real artist, and I was intrigued by that. I reached out to her. She told me she was raised in a traveling circus. I was even more intrigued. And then she introduced me to Vanya, and at the time, they weren’t public about their relationship, so they presented each other as competitors or rivals. And it was clear, even on those initial calls, that there was a respect and admiration, maybe even a flirtation. That was when the seed was first planted. All of a sudden, this whole world makes sense. It’s going to be a love story on top of the world, and we’re going to use extreme climbing as a metaphor for romantic trust. If their relationship works out — amazing. If it doesn’t, we can look at the reasons it didn’t, and explore trust and courage through the ups and downs of their romance.

The film plays out like a heist movie. How did you give it a narrative arc, and when was it clear that Merdeka was going to be the centerpiece?

Zimbalist: In the edit, we went even further into the heist. We even considered going further into the politics around the invasion of Ukraine. So, these genres were present the whole time. It’s about finding that singular container and continuously bringing yourself back to it like a North Star. And saying: This is not a film about the fear of falling from heights; this is a film about the fear of falling in love. Every scene in the film needs to advance the story of their trust for each other. The genuine suspense has to be: Will Angela overcome some of the fears from her childhood and choose to trust Vanya? And if a scene isn’t about that, then it’s not playing to the primary suspense of the movie. 

We went as far as to say to Angela and Ivan, “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do otherwise for the cameras.” That’s a whole other conversation about safety. But it doesn’t matter if you succeed or fail at your external goal. Merdeka is a great container for a climax and for an end to the film if it reveals something new about their relationship, if it advances or evolves their trust for each other. Ultimately, the audience will be satisfied if they choose to trust each other, even if they fail at their external mission. They’ll be satisfied if they achieve their internal mission.

You’re credited as the writer on the film. How much of it is scripted?

Zimbalist: There was no written dialogue or written scenes. There were times when we had an idea like, “Hey, Angela, there’s a circus here in Kuala Lumpur. Do you think you would go over and try to start conversations with some of the performers?” And then it would evolve into something authentic, like Angela crying and being nostalgic for her childhood in a moment of loneliness. Or, if Ivan and Angela were on a roof having a conversation, we might say, “Hey there was this thing we weren’t there to film that you guys mentioned to us. Would you talk about that thing?” The usual throwing out of ideas that happens in most vérité documentaries. The reason we had the opportunity to advance their story at a quick pace is because we waited. We had independent financing and could follow them over the course of seven years, which meant we could skip large chunks of time. They went to Kazakhstan after the war [in Russia], and we did some filming there that we never used. That period of their life wasn’t as eventful as when they went to Thailand.

When “Jackass” first came out, it raised a lot of controversy as people and politicians felt it encouraged young people to try dangerous stunts without proper training. Have you faced a similar response?

Ivan “Vanya” Beerkus: I remember seeing clips of “Jackass” years ago, but it absolutely cannot be compared to what we do. That show was about doing something stupid and getting hurt. We have an art form. We’re inspired by street artists who sometimes maybe do things illegally — graffiti was an illegal art form in the beginning, but it was meant to create something inspiring for other people. We’re never hanging off something with one hand or doing something intentionally risky, like some people. Our objective is to create a work of art. It’s a performance of sorts, meant to inspire people to pursue something in their life that may have nothing to do with physical risks.

Angela Nikolau: I have an avalanche of messages on Instagram from people who are saying they’re inspired to do more and live their life more truly. The film is not about rooftopping as much as it’s about love and trust, and pushing yourself to your creative limits.

You film yourselves committing trespassing crimes, including in countries like Malaysia, which you say in the film is a “strict law-and-order country.” Have you faced any legal ramifications after the film came out? Are you banned from entering Malaysia?

Beerkus: In relation to Malaysia, we weren’t officially served any papers. There was discussion in newspapers by Malaysian authorities [after we climbed Merdeka], but we were out of the country already. If we are banned, we don’t know about it. In a couple places in Europe, like landmarks including La Sagrada Familia [in Barcelona] and the Eiffel Tower [in Paris], they know of us already from our previous exploits. The security guards are on high alert, so usually we can’t get close to those.

Nikolau: We realized we were being watched when Ivan brought me to La Sagrada Familia as a tourist. He wanted to give me a romantic tour, so we bought the normal tourist ticket. As we entered, we realized the security was waiting for us. We went left, and the security guards went left. We went right, and the security followed right. We were being tracked. There might be facial recognition at this point.

Zimbalist: We are not aware of any investigations into Ivan and Angela. There is no evidence that anyone is actively investigating them.

“Skywalkers” was acquired by Netflix, whom I imagine is the perfect partner for a film like this. But was it a challenge to find a distributor given the legalities around the activity portrayed in the movie?

Zimbalist: It was clear from the beginning that we needed independent finance during production to make the film. There was legal liability if there were arrests, and we weren’t going to get location releases from the buildings that we’re trespassing, obviously. And then there’s safety concerns for both our Skywalkers and our crew. The big concern was cinema vérité, where you’re doing a follow doc where you don’t know what’s going to happen in the lives of these characters. You know the characters are great, you know the world is rich, but the finish line is unknown. So that’s very high-risk. We were certain it wasn’t going to be something we could reverse-engineer in a 12-month period, that we were going to need to spread our resources out across many years and wait for their relationship to evolve. Once we got to a place where nobody had been hurt, we didn’t have overt legal troubles like arrests, and the film was in good shape. We were able to premiere it at Sundance, and we had an enormous and very flattering outpouring of interest from a variety of distributors, and that gave us the opportunity to choose who was the best partner for the project.

Angela, the scariest scene in the film, to me, is when you’re having a panic attack on a crane thousands of feet above the ground, with obviously no harness or rope. Do you remember what that felt like in the moment, and is it difficult for you to watch that scene?

Nikolau: When I see that moment in screenings, I feel unpleasant feelings, but I try not to focus on it and just let it pass. Yesterday, I was watching the film with my close friends, people who know me and care for me, and I almost got a panic attack again, just watching it, because it’s so vivid and visceral for me.

What is the key to calming each other down in a moment like that?

Beerkus: Being a couple, we always know when the other one needs support. As you can see in the film, Angela uses the metaphor of the trapeze couple at the circus. There’s the flier and the catcher — one person calms the other one down, and the other is pushing ahead. That happens with us a lot.

Nikolau: When I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do the pose on top of Merdeka, Ivan shared his energy to calm me down: “The weather is fantastic. We made it, let’s do this.” We do this for each other. It comes from the experience of being together for over a decade now. We know each other’s buttons.

Every time you two climb a building, you risk death. How do you make peace with that beforehand?

Beerkus: We’ve done this a lot, so we have a lot of experience. We rely on our ability to make right decisions in the moment, and our collective experience of doing the tallest buildings in the world for several years. Before Merdeka, we made sure to get a whole day of sleep and rest so we were ready to go. We definitely talk through our fears with each other. If we are feeling weird before we go or after we go down, we talk it out like therapy. 

Nikolau: We pinky swear with each other. We make a deal about how much time we think is safe to spend on any particular roof. There are cameras that we bypass on the way up, so we say, “Well, we have five minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes,” and we give ourselves limits.

Zimbalist: One of the things that I always look for in subjects is whether they can speak introspectively, if they have an ability to talk about their feelings in a unique way. Vanya’s mom is a therapist, so he’s done a lot of work understanding his drives, particularly his drives around rooftopping, which his mom has questioned him about for over a decade. And Angela is very poetic in the way that she explores her emotional landscape. 

And so, one of the things that attracted me to these subjects, for this world, is that they weren’t saying that they’ve made peace with death. A lot of extreme athletes are like, “If I die doing what I love, then I’m good.” Vanya and Angela weren’t saying that at all. They’re saying, “We’re afraid of death like everybody else. In fact, we’re constantly negotiating our threshold for fear and risk on every single climb.” That sometimes looks like a fight on a spire, but it’s really the tug of war that they’re going through to figure out just how far they want to push themselves. I love the flier-catcher analogy, because in order to break your own boundaries and push yourself further, somebody does need to be arguing that they need to push through the fear. Angela references this saying in the circus, which is: Your greatest potential is on the other side of fear. So one of them does need to be pushing, but then the other one needs to be the catcher. 

It felt right from the beginning, that this is someone we could identify with, rather than Alex Honnold in “Free Solo,” who doesn’t have a fear center in his brain scan. I can’t relate to that. These are people that are going to show us and explain to us what their thresholds are and how they negotiate those thresholds, live while they’re doing the climbs. And that felt like the most fascinating part of the metaphor about how we all face our own fears.

Jeff, can you describe how you feel when they go off on a death-defying climb, and you may not hear from them for several hours?

Zimbalist: It’s some of the most stressful work I’ve ever done. I felt deeply responsible for everybody on the set, and when they were off and we weren’t there, we couldn’t control the situation. It was even harder for me because I want to be there and be a more neutral voice who can hopefully stay grounded in these high-stakes moments. On Merdeka, where they were gone for 30-plus hours, whenever they had cell phone reception and they weren’t exhausting the battery, they would get in contact with us. We would discourage them from going further. We’d say, “You’ve got to get out of there. We can’t risk an arrest. We know how dangerous getting arrested here in Malaysia is. It’s not anecdotal. We have first-hand testimony to what happens, and so we need to get you guys out of there without an arrest. It’s not worth it. Don’t do it.” Sometimes they would override us, and they would do their own process. So, the best we could do in those circumstances was tell them to be safe and tell them that the film didn’t need them to risk their lives, and then the rest was up to them. Even if you consciously say you’re not going to do anything for the cameras that you wouldn’t do otherwise, subconsciously we know that the presence of a film crew telling your story influences people. You have to examine at a deeper level why you’re doing what you’re doing, and we need to reassure you that we don’t need you to take that extra step. The highest priority in the production was keeping everyone safe.

Angela and Ivan, you mentioned before the interview that you’re living in New York now. Are you doing any rooftopping here?

Nikolau: Per the conditions of our visa, we aren’t allowed to do anything illegal in this country. So, follow us on Instagram to see what happens! [Laughs] Even when we were trespassing in Asia, we couldn’t tell people ahead of time. We couldn’t say, “This is a building we’re going to climb,” because there is competition and law enforcement. In America specifically, it’s not something you can get away with as easily as in other countries.

Angela, there’s a scene in the film when you’re interacting with children. Do you want kids, and if so, would you ever let them go rooftopping?

Nikolau: It’s a difficult question, and the one people ask us all the time. Yes, we hope to have children. We don’t necessarily want to support them doing something like rooftopping. But the job of the parent is to make sure the child isn’t bored, so that’s all we can do. 

Beerkus: It’s not like my parents supported anything I decided to do, and yet this is where I ended up.

Nikolau: Hopefully our children are going to be stubborn and will want to do something original. And they won’t be rooftoppers just to be different.

Zimbalist: I like that. The kids are going to rebel against the parents and be accountants. 

What has the reaction to the film been like?

Zimbalist: I go into these things with my expectations as low as possible, and so getting bombarded with positivity is beyond my wildest dreams. It’s really special. One of my favorite anecdotes is that we had a screening a few days ago, and one of the women in the audience went alone to the screening. She grabbed the arm of a stranger next to her and gripped her forearm because she was feeling so much tension and suspense, and the stranger was like, “Oh my God, thank you!” and gripped her arm back. They both needed each other, and at the end of the film they became friends and exchanged information. I just love that as a microcosm of us overcoming our fear of trusting others and uniting across differences.

Ivan and Angela, what is your next adventure?

Nikolau: We just moved to New York, and I’m making paintings that I’m selling.

Beerkus: I’m writing music now, hoping to find a way to combine music with rooftopping. And, there are still buildings in Asia that haven’t been conquered, but, then again, we can’t tell you what they are.