'Skywalkers' looks at dangerous sport of climbing tall buildings, illegally
Let’s get this out of the way. “Skywalkers: A Love Story” has nothing to do with “Star Wars.”
Rather, the new Netflix documentary (streaming Friday) is the tale of a Russian couple, Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau, who for fun, love and Instagram fame and fortune, climb unroped and illegally in order to pose atop impossibly high buildings.
Anyone with a fear of heights might have a hard time watching the documentary, which focuses on the couple’s dicey 2022 attempt to make it to the top of Merdeka 118, a 2,227-foot building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“I had a fear of heights like most people when I was young, but I wanted to challenge myself, so that’s where rooftopping came in,” says Beerkus, 30, using the street term for the daredevil practice.
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For Nikolau, 31, a gymnast and the child of circus performers, the risky pursuit has as much to do with personal fortitude as it does performance art.
“I had a fear as well, but as you see in the documentary, my grandmother said. ‘Every woman in our bloodline is strong,’ so I was used to never showing weakness,” she says.
The couple spoke in Russian with USA TODAY about their climbs, relationship and future plans with the interpretive help of Maria Bukhonina, co-director of “Skywalkers” along with Jeff Zimbalist.
Question: As you head up Merdeka 118, you vow to each other that this will be the last climb. I sense, however, that it was not?
Beerkus: We did talk about quitting after Merdeka. We haven’t, but we’re more reasonable. Angela does have panic attacks on unstable buildings, so we try not to climb on cranes anymore. We are more looking for unusual roofs to provide unusual photos.
Nikolau: Every time we land in a new city, we can’t help but notice the roofs. We can talk about quitting, but you put a new roof in front of us and we get excited.
You have climbed some famous off-limits places, like Notre-Dame in Paris. Is there any structure that is calling your name, say, perhaps the pyramids in Egypt?
Nikolau: There’s nothing that is built that we haven’t done or is calling our names. I also joke, what we are planning is a secret, so follow us on Instagram. But in truth we are trespassing, so we can’t share that.
Was Merdeka the most challenging of your rooftop climbs?
Beerkus: It was, mainly because of what we heard about the prisons in Malaysia, and how tough the laws are there if you are caught. You can go to prison for months for rooftopping, which isn’t the case in other countries.
Any concern that you’re getting too famous to do this, since you rely on anonymity to sneak into buildings?
Nikolau: People in the know already know who we are. When we went to the (church) Sagrada Familia in Barcelona just as tourists recently, they immediately waved us off. It happens a lot in Hong Kong as well, because security in these marquee buildings is huge.
One could argue life is inherently dangerous, but how do you deal with the fear of death?
Nikolau: When I was 18, I had to bury my cousin who was the same age, he died of an embolism. And I thought, you can die at any moment, so I want to live my life to the fullest. What’s better, live long and smolder like a coal, or burn bright like a fire? I want to burn bright.
Beerkus: You can live 100 years but if your life is boring, it’s not the same. We want to live these bright moments to the fullest. We consider ourselves artists, we want to show others what it’s like to pursue your passions.Would you stop if you had a child?
Beerkus: (laughs) Maybe you have to ask the woman over there who would be the mother.
Nikolau: You know I come from a crazy circus family. So you can draw your own conclusions.
What is your message to kids who want to emulate what you do?
Nikolau: Don’t do it, it’s dangerous. But I’d say the same about gymnastics or skiing or skydiving, they all have risks. My message is, decide what you want to do and stick to your guns.
Beerkus: This is why at the beginning of our documentary, it says don’t do this at home.
The documentary is billed as a love story. How is your relationship now, after the tense times shown in the movie?
Beerkus: Our relationship was strong but after Merdeka, it was stronger. We did see how unusual a couple we are, we are maybe one in a billion who found each other. Whatever secrets we had, we told them to each other the night before we climbed. That really solidified our relationship so much more.
Nikolau: We stopped thinking of ourselves as normal. We’re a bit rare, and we have a new appreciation for ourselves.
Beerkus: But we’re also just a normal couple with everyday quarrels, too. The film reminded us that we have to choose each other every day. It’s not about the roofs and the big emotions, it’s about how you treat each other every day.