Empire State Building Climbers Are Stars Of 'Skywalkers' Documentary
EXCLUSIVE, Update with Netflix X post: The two people who climbed to the top of the Empire State Building spire today, setting off a police action and commandeering airtime on local and national news channels, have revealed themselves to be Ivan “Vanya” Beerkus and Angela Nikolau, stars of Netflix’s 2024 documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story.
But the stunt was not being filmed for the show or with any connection to Netflix, Deadline can report. Though apparently the streamer isn’t above a little opportunity-knocks cross promotion – see the latest Netflix X post below.
Dressed in black and carrying a banner reading “When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace,” the couple appear to have gotten engaged in the perch high atop the city.
Beerkus and Nikolau are currently in police custody.
On their Instagram page (see it below), the couple posted photos in which Beerkus is on one knee with his left hand over his heart and his right hand holding what appears to be a ring. In another photo, Nikolau displays her newly be-ringed hand, and in yet another pic the two show their hands with pinkies entwined.
Sources tell Deadline that the stunt had nothing to do with the documentary, and that it was not being filmed for any official purpose related to the show.
Netflix declined comment, as did the NYPD.
Skywalkers: A Love Story, the 2024 doc directed by Jeff Zimbalist and co-directed by Maria Bukhonina, chronicles the adventures of the Russian couple Nikolau and Beerkus, known as “rooftoppers” who scale skyscrapers and other heights, usually without permission and often illegally. The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
You can watch the Skywalkers trailer below.
“When you fell, I lifted you. When I fell, you lifted me.”
Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus climbing the second-tallest building in the world in SKYWALKERS: A LOVE STORY (2024). pic.twitter.com/AJNc6A2QRe
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