ADRIANA DIAZ:
00:00:15
That was one of the swashbuckling moments from a new documentary called Mighty Mary,about the first all-woman sailing crew to contend for the prestigious sailing competition, the America's Cup. That was in 1995. You might remember that. Joining us now is the award-winning documentary filmmaker behind the film and former Olympic rower Mary Mazzio. And one of the film's subjects that you saw in the clip, Linda Lindquist. Ladies, thank you so much for being here. I mean, the doc is so well done. It's so fun. It moves. I was watching it last night with my daughter, who's four years old. Yay. And it was so great to be like, it's all women on this team. And then when you guys won one of your races, I was like the girls, she was like, yeah, the girls won. This is what we're trying to do. We're highlighting what women achieved and under the most unbelievable circumstances. Mary, what was it like making this film? And how did it come to be?
MARY MAZZIO:
00:01:12
You know what, It was a joy, especially in the year that we've had. I was on mentioned, thank you, at the top that I was on the Olympic team. Well, I knew six of the grinders that came from my Olympic team in '92, and they went from the team and hopped on Mighty Mary. And I knew these cats. Because the big question was, did they have the physicality.
ADRIANA DIAZ:
00:01:35
Because the grinders are these people.
MARY MAZZIO:
00:01:36
Exactly.
ADRIANA DIAZ:
00:01:37
I know this now, after watching the film. The grinders pulled the sail up and bring them down. And it is hundreds of pounds of sails. And did they have the physicality to move a 55,000-pound boat around the course? And I knew these women, and I knew what they could bench press. And I was like, holy-- here it comes. As I was saying to you right before we began, the fact that someone was filming all this certainly makes it a lot easier. But explaining to people who may not understand the intensity of this and the importance and the history of the America's Cup, how much of that was on your mind as you put this together? So this is, of course, the oldest sporting trophy on record. It goes back to 1851, when a brand new United States defeated the British, who had naval supremacy. And so you carry that forward. And it had been really stubbornly all men until, of course, 1992. There was one woman aboard, America Cubed, that was Dawn Riley. And then the owner of the team said in 1995, let's maybe stick it to the yachting establishment. He had a number of reasons. He was a contrarian, and he fielded this all-women's team. And honestly, at the beginning, all the pundits thought this was a publicity stunt. Yeah. And the owner of the team was a Koch brother. Not the two that we often talk about. Linda, you were on this team, 700 applicants. You were one of 23 selected. I mean, this was the créme de la créme of sailing. And so for you, when you were selected, do you remember what that felt like? I jumped up and down and screamed a lot. It was something I never dreamed possible. I started sailing in this tiny lake in Northern Michigan. And one thing led to the other. And the America's Cup was never in my sight. So when this opportunity came up and we were asked to apply. And we had no idea what was going to happen.
ADRIANA DIAZ:
00:03:34
And tell us about the training because it felt like Navy SEALs training. They take all these people, and they put you guys through the works for three weeks. And they also were training you and evaluating you on your mental ability, on your ability to work together. Tell us about that. Well, in something like this, the most important aspect is team. So you can't have 16 individual athletes. You have to have that combination of people to come together. So they put us through all kinds of tests. They made us really uncomfortable. We did things we'd never done before, so they were testing us on how we handled adversity and crisis and conflict and what that looked like. Ultimately, what do you want people to take away from the documentary? You know what, that something may look so remote that you can have this audacious dream. You can feel like an imposter. You can feel like you don't belong. But good things can happen when you just try. And it's such like a love letter to teamwork. And I learned so much about sailing. You have these great graphics where you explain things. And remind us who the narrators are. Oh, my goodness, Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman. Three shoutouts to the two of them. Unbelievable. They are so excited about the project, and can I say for a couple of reasons, this was groundbreaking with a professional women's team going toe to toe with a men's team. No short course, no handicap. But also the participation of the men that they faced, the finest sailors on the planet are also in this film. And I love that you interview them too. And they admit to acting really badly. All right. We'll leave it there because we don't want people to know all the details. You got to watch it though. Mary and Linda, thank you so much. Mighty Maryopens in select theaters around the country this Friday.
