The Director of ‘Apex’ Reveals How He Shot Realistic Climbing Scenes in New Netflix Thriller

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Apex, which begins streaming on Netflix on April 24.

When I first heard Netflix was coming out with a climbing-filled thriller called Apex, my initial reaction was skepticism. Typically, when Hollywood dips its toes in climbing, the mistakes are so egregious that our community has been trained to expect them. Cue the drinking games and Reddit rants. It’s a long tradition—back in 2000, Beth Rodden herself says she walked out of the theater playing Vertical Limit for its sensationalized inaccuracy.

Apex, which releases tomorrow, tells the story of a climber grieving the loss of her partner who then encounters a serial killer in the Australian backcountry. Unlike its clumsy predecessors, Apex—and especially Charlize Theron—at minimum earn an A for effort. So what did the cast and crew do to avoid becoming the butt of climber jokes? We examine how the efforts of Apex paid off, hearing from Theron herself. Then we interview director Baltasar Kormákur, who described shooting some of the climbing scenes as so nail-bitingly real that it was “sickening.”

How does Apex fare when it comes to climbing accuracy?

In Apex, Charlize Theron plays a climber named Sasha who quits the sport after a big wall accident. Taron Egerton takes the role of Ben, a psychotic hunter of humans. In what becomes an adventure-laced cat-and-mouse game, Sasha must outrun and outsmart Ben through whitewater kayaking, scrambling, and yes, rock climbing.

Two extended climbing scenes bookend this action flick. Apex opens on Norway’s Trollveggen, or “Troll Wall” (3,500 feet/1,067m). On Trollveggen, Sasha and her partner Tommy (played by Eric Bana, a veteran of Netflix’s last foray into climbing) find themselves stuck on the route’s final pitch. (If you’re curious about the real routes on Troll Wall, the late John Middendorf wrote a solid primer here). As Sasha takes whipper after whipper—which Theron admits she initially thought was called a “wiper”—the pair reluctantly retreat to their portaledge for the night to rest. The next day, weather forces them to bail, and a rockfall incident strikes.

The second climbing scene comes at the end of Apex, when Sasha must trick Ben into letting her haul him up a cliff. The escape turns into a desperate free solo.

To strive for an accurate portrayal of climbing, Icelandic director Kormákur, who previously directed Everest (2015) about the 1996 fiasco on the mountain, took a number of measures. First, he hired Beth Rodden to teach Charlize Theron to climb. He also employed on-set climbing consultants. They shot the film on real walls: Troll Wall and a nameless cliff in Australia. For the action scenes, the production team rendered an accurate model of a section of Troll Wall and a fake cliff for the Australia finale.

There are a few instances when the climbing scenes border on incredulous. Sasha climbs the snow-covered Troll Wall with bare hands and only rock shoes, which feels like an ill-fated decision from the start. It’s one thing to get stuck in an unexpected snowstorm on the wall, as Sasha and Tommy do in Apex. But it’s another to knowingly head up the wall with snow clinging to every ledge and visibly wet rock, without adequately gearing up for such conditions with ice tools, alpine boots, and crampons. These conditions also create an elevated risk of rockfall in an area already notorious for loose rock. Yet it’s not out of the question for climbers to get in over their heads; none of these mistakes are particularly unrealistic to make.

None of the systems Sasha and Tommy employ on Troll Wall are implausible, though they do appear to be quite reckless. A few cases in point: Extremely shallow cam placements, no prussik or third hand on rappel, and rappel anchors consisting of a single piece of protection. None of those examples defy the physics of climbing, though they do shirk best safety practices. The other notably questionable part is the setup Sasha is able to rig with very limited equipment in order to haul Ben up the cliff at the end.

Other elements of the film, however, helped suspend my disbelief. For example, the partner dynamics and discussions on differing appetites for risk felt very realistic. In the rockfall scene, outdoor climbers will be holding their breath as they watch one of their worst fears play out. More authentic details all feel very familiar: a weathered Black Diamond helmet, a deflated puffy jacket, and the instant ramen Sasha eats out of a mug at camp.

Most importantly, the technical climbing on Theron’s part feels highly believable. In all the climbing scenes, she keeps her hips into the wall, pulls crimps and sidepulls, and uses breathwork to move through difficult sections. Her footwork even looks good when she’s forced to climb barefoot and ropeless.

In almost all of the climbing scenes, Theron is actually climbing, using the skills Rodden imparted. “This is the most badass, best climber you could be with,” Theron says of Rodden. “She’s the OG.”

Theron told Outside that the only times she used a stunt double for climbing in Apex were a few scenes on Troll Wall because she had a broken big toe and had torn some intercostal muscles. “But everything else, except for maybe a few clip-ins [close-up clips in filming], I can almost guarantee, is all me,” Theron said.

As Rodden affirmed in her account of teaching Theron, the actor is a natural; she fell in love with the sport and hopes to keep climbing. “There’s a mental problem‐solving component that my OCD brain loves,” Theron explains. She adds that learning to climb felt more special than any other training she’s done for a film before.

Later in the film, when Theron tops out after her free solo, she starts laughing. She says she wasn’t expecting to laugh while acting in the scene, but relatably explains that she actually just couldn’t believe she pulled the final overhang.

Climbing aside, is Apex a good movie?

This isn’t the first film to take careful measures to avoid inadvertently becoming comedy for climbers. One example? Last summer’s horror project The Sound. This indie film hired pro climbers to act and consult on set, including Alex Honnold, Hazel Findlay, and Adrian Ballinger. While I lauded The Sound’s efforts toward climbing accuracy, the rest of the film, unfortunately, kind of sucked, with poor acting and a manufactured, supernatural antagonist (a literal “sound” coming from a monolith).

By contrast, Apex piercingly portrays every solo female adventurer’s more realistic nightmare: being stalked, abused, and potentially killed by a man in the outdoors. Unfortunately, this fear is far from unfounded. Look no further than the recent homicides at Capitol Reef National Park, the 2021 murder of Gabby Petito, or the years-long violence perpetrated by Charles Barrett. A 2018 survey of more than 5,000 climbers showed that 47% of women (compared to 15.6% of men) experienced sexual harassment or assault while climbing. And in response to constant examples of sexual hostility in the backcountry, “choose the bear” has become the online refrain of women asserting they would rather encounter a bear than a male stranger while alone outdoors.

While I almost never climb alone, I often camp, mountain bike, and trail run by myself. Incidents that have befallen other women in the backcountry usually lurk in the back of my mind on those solo adventures. Watching the fictional Sasha endure harassment and a death chase when she is simply trying to take solace in nature plays out my—and many women’s—worst fears.

As I watched, another layer of this story also loomed in my mind. Theron herself has been the victim of a male perpetrator: her own father. When she was 15 years old, her alcoholic father tried to murder her and her mother in their home in South Africa. That night, her mother ended up killing her father in self-defense. Theron’s past makes this an even more real and deeply disturbing watch.

While I’ve already revealed some plot points, I won’t fully ruin it for you if you’ve read this far. But I will say that just like Theron’s own life story, Apex is as thrilling as it is feminist to the core. In a film about a male-dominated sport and the victimization of women, we open with a climbing partnership in which Sasha is the one leading every pitch. Then we see her dealing with grief with what—serial killer aside—would be a healthy coping mechanism: a soul-searching trip in the backcountry.

While Sasha becomes the victim as Ben starts his hunt, she ultimately reverses the roles, emerging as the stronger, sharp-witted hero of the story. Furthermore, the film never sexualizes her character, keeping it focused on her journey through grief, violence, and the independent pursuit of inner peace through climbing and the outdoors.

Our interview with Apex director Baltasar Kormákur on making a Hollywood climbing film

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.

Maya Silver: Climbing is often misrepresented in Hollywood. But it’s clear you went to great lengths to depict it authentically in Apex. Going into this project, were you aware of the reputation of Hollywood films about climbing like Cliffhanger and Vertical Limits? If so, how did you avoid falling into that trap?

Baltasar Kormákur: I have my own opinion of that. I’m not a part of the climbing world. I actually did listen to a couple of things from Alex Honnold, a podcast criticizing some climbing stuff. But I really wanted to make this more of a real experience. I was very adamant about doing it right.

We had strong technical help. Charlize spent a lot of time with Beth. Specifically when it came to the final climb, which is kind of free soloing, but not out of choice, I really wanted no stunts. No hanging, jumping, and grabbing—just hanging on for your life. That was really what I went for, to see the strain and how difficult it was. I hope it comes across, because that was really my intention, portraying that in the truest possible way.

Silver: What led you to reach out to Beth Rodden to teach Charlize to climb and consult on the film? And what was it like working with Beth for this project?

Kormákur: We were looking for a climber that could help Charlize. I scouted Yosemite for the film. But we wanted to find something more authentic and different. Yosemite had been shown and I wouldn’t quite believe some of that to be happening there. That’s how I met Beth, actually, when I was scouting there. With what she has done—and she also told me her story about the hostage situation—I realized that it was interesting to have a female climber teaching Charlize who has had that kind of experience. Her and Charlize really gelled well together. She is very specific about the people she works with. She was a gift to us.

We reached out to her with our production designers to get information about routes. So she became our go-to person on all subjects. We also had people at the site in Australia working with us, who aren’t as famous climbers, but are really good climbers.

Silver: Aside from working with Beth, what other measures did you take to depict climbing authentically in Apex?

Kormákur: Having her [Charlize] climb for real, for example. In the dry canyon, as we call it, when she climbs the two walls up, she was like, “Can I climb?” She didn’t want any security stuff. I was like, “Yeah, just not too high.” Then she just kept on going—I can’t really turn the camera off! She did a lot of that by herself. I loved how proud she was. You want to see the actors also achieve things. It gives them extra energy.

With the final climb, she was like, “I want to give everything.” That wall is 60 feet high. It was not in any way easy. The final ascent—that is the real place, hundreds of meters up. It was sickening to be at the edge of that. She did that again and again. It’s not once—a few seconds might be a day’s work.

Silver: Tell us how you shot the climbing scenes, both in Norway, and in the life-or-death free solo at the end in Australia. What was a set, what was a green screen, and what was real rock?

Kormákur: In the beginning, the Norway chapter, it’s the real mountain that we’re shooting. But we can’t have actors 1,000 to 2,000 meters high. You can’t even get them there. So we built those rocks, but they’re built exactly to that mountain. Originally, it was Yosemite in the opening scene. I felt that we’ve seen that in Free Solo and other movies. I liked the idea of juxtaposing with the cold climbing, then really warm.

So Troll Wall, after a lot of research, became our go-to place. It had to be believable that people of their capability could be doing this. All the research pointed to that. I also studied The Alpinist, when it comes to colder climbing.

With climbing, you see a lot of people hanging on knees and shaking out arms and jumping for a rock. But I don’t think people free solo like that. Every movement has to be right. Especially when you’re climbing on a rock that you don’t know if it’s going to hold. I heard from a lot of climbers that they’re scared of climbing because you never know if it’s going to give.

Silver: How far off the ground was Charlize climbing on the set wall for the last scene without a rope?

Kormákur: Twenty meters [65 feet]. It’s high enough that you feel you’re going to break your neck if you fall. We have crashpads below. But it’s still kind of a sickening height, to be honest. You might say it’s not that high. Well, it’s like a five-story building and you’re just hanging.

Silver: “Tommy” and “Sasha” are both big names in the current pro climbing world—specifically, Tommy Caldwell and Sasha DiGiulian. Do you know if these names are supposed to reference the real climbers?

Kormákur: That was the original writer—I didn’t question those names. That might be his intention, but he never mentioned that to me.

[Editor’s note: We have passed on this question to the screenwriter Jeremy Robbins, but haven’t yet received a response.]

Silver: You have said that “you can travel through film.” Do you also feel that you can “adventure through film”? And if so, did you want people to feel like they were getting a rock climbing experience by watching Apex?

Kormákur: I want people to be on that ride. I want to be on that ride myself when I’m making the film. People enjoy travel and going to places they might not be able to go themselves through film. I like to give people that journey. And also this kind of physical experience of how it is to be in those places.

At the end of the day, a lot of the Australian crew came to me and said, “Thanks for bringing us to these places—we didn’t know they existed.” With some of the places, we had helicopters dropping stuff into these crevices. Then we had to swim hundreds of meters to get there—the whole crew.

Silver: Did working on this film make you want to try rock climbing yourself?

Kormákur: When I was doing Everest back in the day, I felt like I wanted to go climb Everest. But with the challenge of rock climbing, I might be passing the age when it’s wise to do that.

Silver: Is there anything else you want to share with the climbing community about Apex?

Kormákur: I thank the ones who helped me. Hopefully, they will see some value in this that it’s done with real respect to the community. I really wanted to do it the right way.

The post The Director of ‘Apex’ Reveals How He Shot Realistic Climbing Scenes in New Netflix Thriller appeared first on Climbing.