Director Of 'Free Solo' Talks About The Immense Pressure Of Potentially Filming His Best Friend Dying On Camera In New Episode Of HBO's 'Real Sports'

In his movie ‘Free Solo’, co-director Jimmy Chin was able to capture Alex Honnold’s incredible death-defying feat of climbing the famed Yosemita wall El-Capitan without a rope.

Audiences around the world were captivated not only by Honnold but were also made extremely uncomfortable by the terrifying visuals of climbing El-Cap.

This movie is freakingggggggggggggg me outttttt!!! #FreeSolo pic.twitter.com/MsansmXKdZ

— Ross McCleery (@McCleeryPhotos) April 16, 2019

Just the trailer for Free Solo makes me ill. I just don't think I can do the whole thing.

— suzanne moore (@suzanne_moore) February 12, 2019

FREE SOLO — 10 seconds makes me sweat again. Terrifying.

— Bob Mondello (@Bob_Mondello) February 25, 2019

just watched Free Solo and holy cannoli that was stressful!!! Good documentary but TERRIFYING

— kate (@spaceykate) April 19, 2019

During tonight’s episode of HBO’s Real Sports which focuses on the cameramen involved in filming extreme sports, Chin reveals the immense pressure he dealt with while filming ‘Free Solo’

Jimmy Chin: I always felt like as the director/producer that I should carry the burden of shooting the spot that he was most likely to fall…

Question: What’s the burden involved there?

Jimmy Chin: The burden was seeing your very good friend die in front of you

Question: Did you think about that a lot?

Jimmy Chin I thought about it everyday for two and a half years.

You can catch a quick preview of tonight’s episode of Real Sports featuring ‘Free Solo’ director Jimmy Chin below.