Jodie Foster's Character In Netflix's Nyad Is Accurate - Except For One Detail

When it comes to Netflix's new biopic "Nyad," accuracy is a priority. The film's narrative closely adheres to the real-life achievements and controversies of Diana Nyad, a long-distance swimmer whose 2013 record attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage has long been contested by official organizations. While Annette Bening portrays the titular swimmer, Jodie Foster plays her real-life coach, Bonnie Stoll. As it turns out, Stoll found her film counterpart to be a surprisingly close representation of her real-life self.

In an interview with Sky News, Stoll said that she was impressed by Foster's portrayal of her in "Nyad." "It's surreal and unbelievable and a real tribute to this actor," Stoll said. "I mean, she did it. It surprises me almost every time I see the movie and I see it quite a bit. I think it's me up there."

But while Stoll finds her on-screen depiction startlingly true to life, there is one element of the Netflix film that she has noted is semi-fictionalized: her climactic split as Nyad's swimming coach partway through the movie.

In Netflix's "Nyad," one of the more emotional scenes comes when, after a number of failed attempts from Diana Nyad at the Florida-Cuba swim, Bonnie Stoll decides to give up as her coach. It's a weighty moment that showcases the performances of Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, but the real-life Stoll has suggested that this moment of the biopic is inaccurate. In an interview with USA Today, Stoll said that the conflict between her and Nyad was played up to keep the film's narrative engaging.

Stoll went on to explain that she never actually quit as Nyad's coach, and the pair didn't have a massive falling out, but she did stop assisting her friend with her perilous long-distance swim attempts for a time. "That split in our relationship never happened," she said. "For about five months, I wasn't working with Diana, that's true. But we'd see each other every day. She wasn't allowed to say, 'Bonnie, please come help me again,' and I wasn't allowed to say, 'Diana, don't do this.'"

Stoll even clarified that the two are still close friends to this very day, an entire decade after Nyad's controversial swim. "Nyad" co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi told NBC News, "They're family through thick and thin."