etflix has announced an upcoming biopic, coming soon to the streaming platform, centred around the life of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad.
Nyad, who will be played by four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening, went back to long-distance swimming at the age of 60, after a failed attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, a 110-mile marathon, at the age of 28.
“Nyad wasn’t willing to accept that the world was done with her,” said co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi in an interview with Tudum. “She had this audacious vision and put in the real work with her whole team to make this Cuba to Key West swim happen.”
This story and more will be explored in Netflix’s NYAD. Here’s what you need to know about the person who inspired the film and how to watch it.
Who is Diana Nyad?
Nyad first came to public attention in 1975, when she swam around Manhattan in 28 mile course, followed by a 102 mile swim from North Bimini in the Bahamas to Juno Beach in Florida in 1979.
NYAD picks up the tale of the marathon swimmer at the age of 60, when she’s preparing to once more attempt the swim from Cuba to Florida, something she had last attempted and failed to complete at the age of 28.
What records does she hold?
Throughout her career, she has broken many records, including (likely spoilers ahead for the biopic) the then-longest swim in history when she made the 102.5-mile journey from the island of Bimini to Florida.
Outside of the feat, Nyad also broke numerous world records, including what had been a 50-year mark for circling Manhattan Island, setting the new time of seven hours and 57 minutes.
Why is Diana Nyad controversial?
However, Nyad’s feats are not without debate. Some sceptics, including several fellow long-distance swimmers, have raised issues with whether her swim from Cuba to Florida was truly unassisted, as it should be for her to hold the record.
Those who had doubts requested the swim’s GPS history, surface current, weather, and Nyad’s eating and drinking data.
Together with further data from Nyad and her team of 35 support staff, a University of Miami oceanography professor, Tamay Ozgokmen, confirmed that favourable Gulf Stream currents could explain how Nyad managed to complete certain portions of the swim at such a speed.
From there, other criticisms were levelled, such as concern that her crews’ touching her while helping with her protective suit meant that the swim should be formally recognised as an “assisted” swim.
However, Nyad herself has always maintained that the swim was completed and to the satisfaction of ratification standards of the time.
Her claims both in the media and in books she’s been written since have been labelled as false by her critics.
How to watch NYAD
NYAD will be in select American cinemas on October 20 and will stream worldwide on Netflix from November 3.
The film also enjoyed an international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival during September, 2023.