Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus in 'Skywalkers' (Image: Netflix)
The Netflix film Skywalkers follows Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, two Russian climbers with a passion for “rooftoping,” as they climb the world’s last super skyscraper, the 118-story skyscraper, Merdeka 118, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, amid their tumultuous love story.
In conversation with uInterview founder Erik Meers, Nikolau and Beerkus discussed what drew them towards the dangerous hobby in the first place.
A translator interpreted Beerkus’ response: “Ivan says that he first saw pictures of it online somewhere in a magazine, and he got excited about it. So he started roofing first in Moscow locally, and then he started to travel and get some buildings done abroad. Then he got sponsors, and that led him to develop an account, and then he met Angela.”
Nikolau then spoke, and the translator explained, “She says my first one was when she was a teenager; her mom took her to a plants exhibit, and it was really boring. She didn’t like plants enough, and she was wandering around the building. She found the stairs leading up to the roof, so she kind of sneaked her first roof visit without anybody knowing, and she was really excited about sitting up there. She couldn’t decide whether she was sort of anxious and excited because it was high about the ground or because her mom would punish her if she knew – so that was the feeling that she kind of hung onto.”
The translator continued, “She wanted someone who would take pictures of her doing that, and she needed someone to photograph her. So she reached out to local boys, and she kind of offered them a barter; she would offer them an apple pie, and they would take her to rooftops. And then the boys kind of said no, we don’t take girls, so she had to find her way up and develop her own company of friends to go roofing, and then she discovered Ivan later on.”
Nikolau and Beerkus recall their first meeting. Nikolau gestured to Beerkus’ face with a smile.
Beerkus and Nikolau discussed it, and the translator laughed. “Ivan said, ‘She was the most beautiful girl roofer,’ and she says, ‘I was the only one; what are you talking about? There was no one else.’ He says, ‘No, I want to say that you were the most beautiful one.'”
The couple said they don’t fear death.
“She lost a cousin when they were relatively young,” the interpreter said for Nikolau. “She was 20, and he was 18. He had big plans and all of a sudden, he passed from a rare blood condition. And she remembers burying her cousin at that age and remembering, like a switch flipped, and from that point on, she said, we’re all going to die at some point, and nobody knows when, so there’s no point in waiting or being afraid or delaying things. She just wants to enjoy life every day and take the max she can out of it and not be restrained by fear of death.”
Skywalkers is now available to stream on Netflix.
Check back in a few days for Nikolau and Beerkus’s answers to uInterview fans’ burning questions.
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