Two Climbers Rappel Down a Sunset Strip Building to Promote an Everest Documentary
Jimmy Chin and Jim Morrison went over the edge of a 12-storey building on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, on Friday evening. They rappelled down the face of a huge advertisement for Everest: The Other Side, a National Geographic documentary. To rappel means to lower yourself down a wall on a rope, a method climbers use all the time.
The stunt was staged to promote the film, which Chin co-directed with Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Deadline reported that Morrison, the film's star, had his skis strapped to his back as he came down. Chin is an Oscar-winning director, and Morrison is an elite ski mountaineer, according to ABC7.
The documentary follows Morrison as he climbs the north side of Mount Everest and then skis back down it. That is the mountain's far side from the route most climbers use, and the film's title refers to it.
The film opened in 551 cinemas on Friday, including IMAX screens. IMAX is a large-format system with very big screens and enhanced sound, and it is often used for nature and adventure films. The same Deadline report confirmed the opening count.
Before reaching cinemas, the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Italy. It then screened at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado and the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. These autumn festivals are where filmmakers show their work to critics, audiences and buyers before a wider release.
For the Sunset Strip, the stunt was a visible way to draw attention to a film opening in cinemas that same weekend. It took place in one of the busiest stretches of Los Angeles, where drivers, pedestrians and tourists could all see it.
The rappel was a publicity event, not a film screening. Its goal was simple: to get people looking up at a poster of a mountain and thinking about going to see the film.
