Wednesday December 6, 2000

Going to the Vertical Limit

A new big-budget thriller is about to take movie lovers to new heights this weekend. so our Steve Santagati hooked up with one of the stars for a first-hand look at the highs and lows of making "Vertical Limit."

It's an action packed adventure at 26,000 feet.. In "Vertical Limit"a team of mountain climbers conquers one of the tallest peaks in the world: K2 in the Himalayas. So who better to show us the ropes of rock climbing than one of the film's stars, Robin Tunney.

In the movie, Robin looks confident in this "edge of your seat" role, but in fact to prepare for the part, Robin and her co-stars spent five months in New Zealand, mastering their rock and ice climbing skills. Robin says, "Because I've never been in the mountains and I lied. Totally lied flat out... I was like 'Martin (the director) I love the mountains are you kidding? Grew up in them.' I grew up in Chicago."

But since shooting "Vertical Limit," she's no longer vertically challenged.

Robin: You don't mind being beaten by a girl do you?
Steve: Oh kind of.
Robin: This isn't a little humiliating for you?
Steve: Sort of.
Now going up is the easy part. It's coming down that can be kind of frightening. Especially when it came to filming from the towering heights of K2.

Steve: Were you afraid of the height at all when you first got there? Robin: I couldn't be, you know what I mean? It didn't occur to me... there were moments though.

Robin says her co-star Chris O'Donnell seemed at times frozen with fear. She says, "He was afraid. And he's like all the guys I grew up with in Chicago. I look down and he's terrified."

Steve: Would you do this on your own after the fact?
Robin: I'd rock climb, you're not going to catch me at 20,000 feet anywhere unless I'm in an airplane. That's the only way I'm going back up. No way, even another movie if they were like 'Robin there's a movie out there, there's this great director.' It's the "s" word now. Snow, snow way, snow way!"