While their most recent doc \u201cThe Rescue\u201d continues its festival and award-circuit run, directors\u00a0Chai Vasarhelyi\u00a0and\u00a0Jimmy Chin\u00a0have been at work in the edit suite prepping their next big-screen effort \u2013 a decades spanning love story mixing business, philanthropy, and the great outdoors.<\/p>\n
Aiming for a mid-2022 launch, the still-untitled doc will follow the complicated relationship between conservationist and climber Yvon Chouinard, founder of apparel brand Patagonia, Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of the North Face and Esprit brands, and Kristine McDivitt, the former Patagonia CEO who later married Tompkins.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a love triangle,\u201d Vasarhelyi tells\u00a0Variety<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s a big love story with a major female protagonist, which is a big step for us. It inhabits the incredibly private worlds of Jimmy\u2019s original mentors, who were best friends, though two totally different types of people, with a woman in between.\u201d<\/p>\n \n As with previous films \u201cFree Solo\u201d and \u201cMeru,\u201d the upcoming project will explore the world of elite climbers \u2013 in which Chin is a leading figure \u2013 mixing adventure footage, shot in the Tompkins\u2019 private nature reserve Patagonia Park, with interviews and archival material to explore this unconventional relationship.<\/p>\n \u201cDoug named the highest mountain in their park Cerro Kristine, after his wife,\u201d says Vasarhelyi. \u201cJimmy climbed that mountain with Doug and Yvon in 2001, [and, after Doug\u2019s death in 2015] Kris really wanted to climb the mountain named after her. So the film will be more of a meditative journey about how we got there.\u201d<\/p>\n That process took some time. The filmmakers began work on the project several years ago, shooting the last bit of footage in February 2019. Though they had originally intended this film to follow-up their Oscar winning \u201cFree Solo,\u201d the focus shifted when the opportunity for \u201cThe Rescue\u201d came up \u2013 a fact that speaks to the latter project\u2019s expedited timeline.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been a sprint,\u201d Vasarhelyi says of her most recent film. \u201c[It\u2019s been] non-stop for the past eight months! We were so desperate trying to finish it that we showed one version at Telluride, another one at Toronto, and [kept working on it] until the film\u2019s release.\u201d<\/p>\n With \u201cThe Rescue\u201d now out in the world and the filmmakers accompanying it along the international circuit, Vasarhelyi is relieved to be able to focus her attention on new projects. \u201cYou have to be distracted by something else, to start thinking of new ideas,\u201d she says. \u201cWe just saw our first cut of our next doc, so creatively, we\u2019re in the real deal moment again. We\u2019re understanding what we have, tackling the problems that have been obsessing us \u2013 and it\u2019s been so nice to have that.\u201d<\/p>\n