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Jimmy Chin<\/strong> and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi<\/strong> have been on a whirlwind tour over the past few months with their film Nyad.<\/em> Since its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in September, the film has made stops in Toronto, London, Mill Valley, Savannah, Newport Beach, and New York. When we hop on a call for this Little Gold Men<\/em> interview<\/a>, the married couple (who are also parents to two kids) are back together at their home office in New York, just a day away from the October 20 theatrical release of Nyad<\/em> (it\u2019ll hit Netflix on November 3).<\/p>\n The seasoned documentary filmmakers, who won an Oscar for their intense free-climbing doc, Free Solo,<\/em> admit that the promotional tour for their first narrative film has felt very different. \u201cI think there\u2019s just a lot of resources that go behind narrative fiction that you don\u2019t necessarily experience with documentaries. The reach of it is quite different,\u201d says Vasarhelyi. \u201cIt definitely makes me want to be more of an activist, in terms of getting docs that type of attention.\u201d<\/p>\n Nyad<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> which follows open water swimmer Diana Nyad<\/strong>\u2019s attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida at the age of 64, seems like a logical next step for Chin and Vasarhelyi, as it centers on yet another athlete pushing themselves to physical and mental extremes for their sport. But they both agree the stakes feel higher here. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m more self-conscious about this release, just because it\u2019s a new space for us,\u201d says Chin. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the reason why we wanted to make a narrative feature, because we make films about people who push themselves and try to find their own potential. I think we wanted to walk the walk as well and push ourselves as storytellers and filmmakers, and grow as creatives.\u201d<\/p>\n Vanity Fair:<\/strong><\/em> Having Annette Bening and Jodie Foster as your lead actors in your very first narrative film seems like a dream. Was it also nerve-racking?<\/strong><\/p>\n Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi:<\/em> There were a lot of pinch-me moments. Yes, of course it was nerve-racking. In documentary, our job is to observe and to listen really closely. And suddenly, like, we had these two amazing creative partners who are at the top of their craft and as committed as we are to bringing these characters to life. That felt invigorating, empowering, and in so many different ways.<\/p>\n