- I'm here with Alex Honnold
here on the patio of the
Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
It's Oscar night and the festivities
are just about to get started.
Alex's film "Free Solo" has
been nominated for an Oscar.
How are you feeling,
it's a big night for you.
- Yeah, no, I'm getting psyched.
I mean honestly I just
came from the climbing gym,
and I'm kinda worked and
I need to eat some lunch
and get fired up, I mean
the Oscars don't even start
for six hours or something, it's crazy.
We go to the red carpet so early.
By the time they actually
start I'll be fired up.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- For now I'm just kinda pooped.
- You're wearing a
custom North Face tuxedo.
It's the first one that they've ever made
and it's actually going to inspire
potentially more custom tuxedos from them.
How do you feel about it?
- I always loved being a guinea pig.
You know it's nice being the first.
No, it's cool, I mean,
and I'm sort of honored
that they decided to rise to the occasion
and that they wanted to
make something nice for me.
It's pretty snug.
- I know that during your
fittings they were measuring you.
You know, your arm lengths,
your shoulder lengths,
all of that and you might
have seen that some parts
of your body were longer than others.
I mean, what findings did
you come across that maybe--
- Well in the fitting it
seemed like one of my arms
might have been a quarter
inch longer than the other.
Which I had never really
thought about before,
but it did make me think about
the way I hang on climbing
and why I've had some
shoulder issues on one side
over the years and things like that.
But I mean, basically it
was all pretty normal.
- So now here you are, you're in a tuxedo,
you're nominated for an Oscar.
How do you feel, this is a big night.
- I mean, honestly it's just another night
of film doer of me.
You know, I mean, yeah it's exciting
that the film's been nominated,
but I think it means a lot
more to the actualfilm makers.
You know, I think that for me
just doing the actual climb,
just free soloing El Cap was enough.
- Well some people wait their
whole lives for this moment,
to be nominated for an Oscar--
- Well the thing is, some
people wait their whole lives
for the Oscars because they're filmmakers,
and because they're actors,
and because they're
working in the industry
and it means a lot for them
to be recognized by their
peers and to, you know,
be celebrated by all the
people that they respect.
I'm not an actor, I'm not a filmmaker,
I've never watched the Oscars.
You know, I don't want
to say I don't care,
because obviously it's still
a big honor to be here,
and it's really nice to see the party
but it's not my world.
When I did the actual climb,
when I free soloed El Cap,
and all my friends texted me
saying how impressed they were
by the climb, I mean, that means
more to me in a lot of ways
then recognition for the film.
Though that said, it is really nice
that people find something
meaningful in the film.
You know, I mean like, that's
still, that's still nice.
But it's never my goal
to come to the Oscars.
- So how can you tell
that you're improving,
and that you are being a good climber
when essentially you're
the best in the world?
- No, I'm definitely not
the best in the world.
I mean, today I just
came from a gym session.
The climbing gym near the Oscars.
With the actual, with the
whole "Free Solo" film crew,
so the different cinematographers,
pretty much everybody
that worked on the film,
a couple of the film editors.
Basically everyone that
worked on "Free Solo"
was at the climbing gym this morning
and we were kinda going
neck and neck, you know.
Some of the filmmakers are
really good climbers too.
And so, we're just all
hanging tough together,
we're all training our own ways,
we're all working on our weaknesses.
I mean there's always something
to improve at in climbing.
- What do you consider your weaknesses?
- I have very weak fingers.
I mean, I have many
weaknesses in climbing,
but actually just gym climbing in general
is probably one of my weaknesses.
- We know from the film
that you don't register fear
in the same way that other
people register fear.
From when you were climbing.
So my question is, does this scare you?
- I think that the takeaway from the film
isn't that I don't register
fear the same as other people,
it's that through 10 years of practice
I've desensitized myself to
certain levels of stimulus.
I think in the film, you see
my amygdala doesn't light up
under certain circumstances.
But, it sort of remains to be seen
whether that's from nature or nurture.
You know, and I know that 20 years ago
climbing was a lot scarier
to me then it is now.
And so obviously there's
been a learned process there.
You know, had I gone from
living in my van 10 years ago
straight to walking the
red carpet at the Oscars
my mind would probably explode, you know?
Like that would be the end of me.
It would be way to stressful.
- You're amygdala would be, lighting up.
- Yeah, exactly, it would be lighting up
like a Christmas Tree, and
it would be a disaster.
But, you know, I've been
a professional climber
for 10 years, I've been
touring with the film
for six months, like I've
had a lot of practice.
I mean, we were just at the BAFTAs,
which is the British Academy Awards.
And we met the prince and princess.
And it's all good practice for the Oscars.
- Is there anyone here tonight
that you're hoping to see
or that you would be excited to meet?
- I honestly don't know
who will be at the Oscars
or what the plan'll be.
I mean, we me Taylor Swift last night,
which is the highlight of my
girlfriend's life probably.
So I think that's all pretty good.
You know, everything else is gravy.
We'll just see.
- So if Sanni's happy
then you're happy.
- Yeah if Sanni's happy then I'm happy.
It's all just, you know it's
all just a crazy experience.
- Do you care if you win?
- Yeah, I mean, it'd be nice to win.
Just because it's not
as if I'll ever be in
another film that gets
nominated, you know,
this is my one shot at
winning an Academy Award.
It's not under my control.
You know, so we'll just
see how it plays out.
- I mean we can tell that you
don't climb for attention,
you're not at the Oscars for attention.
Why do you do what you do?
- Why do I climb?
- Yeah.
- I mean I've always climbed
because I'm not good at anything else.
No I dunno, I just, I've
always loved climbing,
and I've just loved the
experience of climbing,
and then I think that combined
with sort of an inherent drive
to improve of what I'm doing
or feel like I'm good at what I'm doing,
basically, this desire to push
myself in whatever way I can.
I think has led me down this 20 year path
of trying to you know get
better at rock climbing.
I am very proud of free soloing El Cap,
but you know, lots of humans
do lots of things you know.
It's hard to put it in a greater context.
- The film tour's coming to an end,
you're climbing life is
about to ramp back up.
What's next?
- Yeah everybody asked, what's next.
I mean I dunno if I'll ever
top my free solo of El Cap,
just because I don't know
if there are any walls in the world
that are more inspiring then El Cap.
I dunno if that's really possible.
Back to normal life, back to climbing.
Trying to keep improving,
you know maintaining a
relationship with my girlfriend,
working with my foundation, just you know,
hopefully going on expeditions
and climbing again.
We'll just see.
- So you don't have
your sights set on one single goal?
- No I don't have any
particular climbing goal,
and honestly it'd be really hard to have
a particular climbing goal right now,
just because I've spent six
months traveling with the film,
talking about El Cap.
You know, it's hard to
dream about the future
when you're so caught up in the present.
Hopefully I'll have some time soon.
- So maybe that's your goal,
dreaming about the future.
- Yeah no, I mean I
definitely need some time
to just get a vision, you know, we'll see.
