We meet with the famous (and infamous) French Spider-Man, Alain Robert, in his home in Bali to reminisce over his past feats, mapping the mind of a world-class daredevil. In our interview with Alain, we touch on both the high points and the low points of his career, including the numerous incidents he's had over the years and what it takes for him to return to a sport that has nearly taken his life so many times. We unlock the philosophy that drives him and his craft, the freedom he feels during the climb, the euphoria of looking fear in the eyes and saying "you can't stop me", all of which propel him into his impossible feats.
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TVTranscript
00:00 I have been climbing now for nearly 45 years.
00:26 I have had plenty of problems, plenty of failure.
00:35 I don't use anything special, you know, just using my bare hands.
00:48 I'm using some chalk as well.
00:52 Those are the only things I'm using.
01:00 My life is based on moving forward.
01:06 Something, you know, that makes me dream, you know,
01:11 I need to feel this thrill of there is something around the corner.
01:21 My next challenge, climbing 200 buildings before I retire.
01:32 I love Manila, you know, it's a vibrant city.
01:41 I came here 20 years back and I am having nice memories.
01:49 There weren't any tall buildings, so now I have a kind of a mission
01:54 to climb one of the tallest buildings in the Philippines.
02:14 Each time I am leading this kind of adventure, there is a kind of addiction.
02:25 People may not really understand, but it's just something, you know,
02:29 you are planning in your mind.
02:34 You are not sure whether at the end of the day you will be still alive or not.
02:45 This is the way I enjoy living.
02:51 My life is always about my next challenge.
02:57 So, you know, one is done, it's done, it's wrapped up,
03:00 there will be always another one until my last breath.
03:06 [Music]
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04:30 [Music]
04:33 [Music]
04:39 I am Anna Robert, but you know, most of the people,
04:53 they are knowing me more as a French Spiderman.
04:58 The guy who can climb anything, especially climbing buildings,
05:04 just using my bare hands.
05:08 I have climbed 160 buildings.
05:13 It took nearly 25 years.
05:19 70 different countries.
05:25 Discovering people, discovering cultures.
05:31 Climbing a building is the absolute vertical from bottom to top.
05:43 It can be really tiring.
05:50 Sometimes I've been trying only a few meters,
05:55 and I wasn't even sure that I was going to make it.
05:59 And fighting hard to stay alive.
06:04 And when you are reaching the top, you just feel like,
06:12 "Wow, I won my fucking life, you know, I am having an extra life, I reborn."
06:19 That's just an amazing feeling.
06:23 When I was like eight, I saw a movie inspired by a novel written by Henri Troya,
06:30 "The Grieving Snow."
06:32 It's a story of a plane who crashed near the top of Mont Blanc,
06:35 and two brothers guide, they decide to climb the mountain and to seek survivors.
06:42 And I have been really fascinated by that.
06:47 I have been intrigued.
06:49 At that time, even though I was still very young,
06:52 I just thought when I will be older, I just want to become a climber.
06:59 My parents, you know, they didn't really understand me
07:07 because they are from a generation which you are successful if you are a doctor,
07:13 if you are a teacher, if you are an engineer, but a climber? Come on, man.
07:21 I felt insecure. I thought that maybe my face is not good, or you know, that kind of complex.
07:33 It brings a lot of negativities around your life.
07:38 And I was having to find something, you know, to stand out, to find my way, and I found it.
07:45 First time was a bit by accident.
07:50 I was at school, one teacher was missing, so I was having to go home two hours before my parents.
07:58 When I arrived in front of my apartment, I realized that I didn't take the keys.
08:04 For some reason, even though I was not really thinking about climbing the seven-story building,
08:09 I was looking at it, and I was studying, and I sometimes, you know, a bit like a dreamer,
08:15 like you are watching something, although you know that most likely you're never going to do it.
08:20 And on that day, for some reason, I have decided that I was having enough.
08:25 I was having to be brave and courageous.
08:29 This is how I started to climb a seven-story building.
08:34 I have suddenly opened a gate.
08:38 Most of the people, they are dreaming their life, and suddenly I was on the other side.
08:47 I was living my dream.
08:51 You know, as a little boy, afraid of everything, lacking of self-confidence, that was a kind of a giant step.
09:00 [Music]
09:08 It seems that nowadays a lot of people are not even aware that I used to be a famous rock climber.
09:16 I was having more than a solid background on rock climbing, and especially free soloing.
09:26 I'm talking about things that I did 25, 27 years ago,
09:32 pushing the difficulties of free soloing at the highest, highest level ever in the whole world.
09:42 [Music]
09:54 In Vernon, that famous wood pulp pot, that was so hard, that was so unsafe.
10:03 And you are just climbing, you are 300 meters above the ground,
10:08 and just using some small pockets, some friction for your feet, and it's kind of scary stuff.
10:18 My margin in between making it or falling and dying was really, really slim.
10:26 Nowadays, people have kind of forgotten, because that was before internet.
10:34 I'm trying also to tell people that I'm just not only a guy who is climbing buildings.
10:41 [Music]
10:47 Very famous rock climbers like Alex Honnold, they are knowing, they are perfectly aware.
10:53 [Music]
10:55 Alex did something amazing two years back.
10:59 He climbed El Capitan.
11:01 He was the first person climbing free solo at a 900 meters route,
11:08 but the hardest pitch is 513A.
11:13 And what I did, for example, 25 years ago, was up to 513D.
11:21 One of the things that I really respect about Alain is just the vision that he's had over the years.
11:28 You know, his willingness to do things that other people wouldn't do.
11:32 I think Alain Robert was one of the first people to really free solo very difficult routes.
11:39 I mean, in fact, he's free soloed harder grades than I ever have.
11:43 Some of the things that he climbed on rock are really more impressive than what he's done on buildings,
11:48 but it's just been 30 years or so, and so nobody really remembers them now.
11:52 [Music]
12:05 For me, climbing was not about racing or competing.
12:10 It was about freedom and self-expression.
12:14 It sounds idealistic, perhaps, but I guess I'm just from another generation of climbers.
12:22 How is everything?
12:24 It's good, bro.
12:25 Is it good?
12:26 Yeah, it's good.
12:27 Looks like a really nice place for climbing.
12:31 Yeah, it's great.
12:32 As climbing became more popular, they added more rules and regulation, and it became more like a sport.
12:39 It was no longer about adventure.
12:42 I did not want to compete against others, but against a cliff, against myself, alone and with my life in my hands.
12:51 The new generation, they are really pushing very hard.
12:55 Climbing sometimes was just to put a long distance in between pegs.
13:01 If you were falling, you were dead.
13:03 It's something very mental game, yeah.
13:05 Climbing was totally different.
13:07 [Speaking in foreign language]
13:20 [Speaking in foreign language]
13:25 So what's there to do on a summer day in Chicago?
13:27 Go to the beach, play volleyball, climb a mountain in Chicago?
13:31 Well, as Pino Tedesco reports, one visitor decided to do the next best thing.
13:36 He's like Spider-Man, or so it would seem, and his web?
13:41 Some of the tiny rungs for window washers along this mountain of a building.
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14:43 The aesthetic of the building is very important.
14:46 It's like a woman.
14:48 You are picking usually the one that is gorgeous.
14:50 [Laughs]
14:53 [Music]
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15:10 [Music]
15:13 The Petronas Twin Tower in Kuala Lumpur.
15:21 You know, when I did it, I was really having to pinch myself.
15:25 I was standing at the top, 452 meters above the ground,
15:35 and that was after 12 years, two failed attempts,
15:39 and I knew I was risking maybe up to five years in jail.
15:45 [Music]
15:47 At the end, there is a pinnacle.
15:55 It's about 80 meters, and you are really standing at the top of the world.
16:00 That was really an amazing feeling, and I was just telling myself,
16:07 "Am I dreaming?"
16:12 [Music]
16:14 It feels a bit unreal.
16:19 Everybody is laughing.
16:21 Everybody wants to take pictures about you,
16:23 or want an autograph, or a kiss, or whatever.
16:27 I'm not going to tell you that I don't like it.
16:31 When suddenly there is thousands and thousands of people,
16:36 and they are chasing you, as a matter of fact, it is pleasant.
16:41 [Music]
17:09 In Bali, actually, I'm not really doing anything special.
17:13 My carrier is more backwards than forwards,
17:17 so I am climbing less.
17:20 I'm just enjoying my life a bit differently, you know, more relaxed.
17:25 I'm staying here on a retired visa,
17:30 and I'm not working.
17:32 I don't like working, so it's fine.
17:35 And I am resting, watching TV, swimming, enjoying my life.
17:42 Having a good champagne, or two, or three sometimes.
18:04 I'm fascinated by what he's doing.
18:06 I appreciate this risk.
18:09 Because some people will take him for a madman,
18:12 because of what he's doing, whether it's for the rock,
18:14 or for the buildings that are climbing bare-handed.
18:16 But in fact, he's far from being mad.
18:18 It's a mental preparation of a high-level athlete.
18:23 This "no harness", the free climbs on the buildings,
18:28 one wrong grip, and we all know that, and it's over.
18:33 He's doing it for too long.
18:35 You always say, at a certain point in time,
18:38 you should stop doing extreme sports.
18:41 He's going to be 60 soon.
18:43 At some point, you have to find a way to stop,
18:47 before it's too late.
18:49 I guarantee it's dangerous.
18:53 I wish him, and I wish all of us,
18:55 that as long as he does it, he comes home safe and sound.
19:00 But climbing on these buildings, sometimes I dream of him,
19:03 his escapades.
19:06 [Belgian National Park]
19:08 You know, deep down, if you have understood,
19:21 I'm just following my dreams.
19:24 And I am having the willpower for the next,
19:28 maybe 15 or 20 years,
19:31 for climbing again, free soloing,
19:34 because this is the way I am really expressing myself.
19:37 As long as I am having a bit of a margin,
19:41 I am considering that this is safe.
19:45 [Belgian National Park]
19:54 We're going down to the line, Dr. Al-Tayyib.
19:59 - Oh, OK. - Do you copy, sir?
20:01 - How did you climb? - How did you face me?
20:03 OK, thanks.
20:05 I love kicking the ass of the society.
20:09 I am a kind of rebellious person.
20:13 The NSW police look very dimly on this.
20:17 We've had to use a number of different resources here today,
20:19 and it's obviously been a tremendous impact on the people of Sydney.
20:22 We've had to close streets, etc.,
20:24 so we'll be prosecuting him to the full extent of the law.
20:27 I also enjoy very much climbing illegally,
20:31 because it's more fun, it makes the story bigger.
20:35 I have been also jailed many times.
20:40 Not long ago, I climbed in the UK.
20:44 I was really, really on the edge.
20:47 I was already having two previous injunctions,
20:50 but, you know, I'm 56, not going to go to jail for 5 years or 10 years,
20:54 so I just prefer to abandon climbing in the UK.
20:59 (SYDNEY, UK)
21:02 You know, sometimes people, they're asking me what scares me the most,
21:08 and I'm just telling them having a boring life.
21:11 I find it, for me, more scary than climbing and falling.
21:19 I am training hard.
21:23 I am trying to be in good shape, you know,
21:25 although I'm not as young as before.
21:28 I just feel like for a guy who is now close to 60,
21:33 I'm not that bad.
21:35 At least I am the lucky one,
21:38 because I can climb until maybe I'll be 70.
21:42 When I grabbed the pockets,
21:49 then I just, I got a stake.
21:52 - Only one? - Yeah, just one.
21:55 I broke so many, you know, my skull.
22:02 I broke my nose quite badly,
22:04 and I fell in a coma.
22:06 The worst thing is my wrist,
22:11 because I fell from nearly 20 metres.
22:14 I am having, you know, some strong features,
22:19 so I'm not like in the mall, like Enrique Iglesias
22:23 or that kind of shitty Tom Cruise.
22:26 I am more like somebody who stands out.
22:29 From beginning when I know about his job,
22:32 I really want to stop, and I wish that he can stop and find another job,
22:36 but it looks like already inside his blood,
22:39 so if I'm asking him to stop climbing,
22:42 it's like I'm asking him to die.
22:47 I don't know actually if I already told you,
22:50 but I am planning to go to the Philippines,
22:54 and I wish to climb one of the buildings.
22:58 You like it? You don't like it? You hate me? You love me?
23:06 It's illegal. It's illegal.
23:09 Yeah, well, I am not... You know, I...
23:12 You know what I feel? It's like last time, UK, it's...
23:16 - No, the UK was very... - It's really scary.
23:19 ...particular case, because there I had been already arrested six times,
23:24 so they just got tired about me,
23:26 and they wanted, you know, to make me feel like a shit.
23:31 But Philippines, for me, I am completely virgin.
23:35 It's a new background, it's a new feel,
23:38 so I don't think it shouldn't be bad.
23:40 It can be bad, very sure.
23:43 (BIRDS CHIRPING)
23:45 I always thought that I wanted one day to climb something in the Philippines,
23:52 so here we are.
23:54 And usually I am the kind of person,
23:58 if I am having an idea in my mind,
24:01 I am not going to give up.
24:04 Sometimes also it's something that makes me a little bit afraid.
24:10 I am also a bit afraid of myself.
24:12 It's like I'm stuck.
24:23 On the other side, I know what he's doing,
24:27 but I'm already falling in love.
24:29 It's like, what should I do?
24:31 It's difficult.
24:33 So I just... We are nearly never talking about climbing,
24:37 about job, which building.
24:40 No, Ira, you know, she's never tried to convince me not to climb.
24:48 She knows and she heard it so many times
24:51 that for me climbing is as important as eating, breathing or sleeping.
24:56 So she has kind of set up her mind
25:01 that for me climbing is as important as being in love for her
25:07 and her being in love for me.
25:09 I just want a real life, normal life,
25:16 without questioning my husband,
25:19 if he will be coming back again or not after this job.
25:22 On the other side, this is his hobby, his passion,
25:26 so I cannot... I cannot stop it.
25:30 Of course, people who are loving me,
25:33 they obviously... they are afraid
25:36 because they know that what I am doing is dangerous.
25:41 I don't really need to explain that it's a deadly game
25:49 because it's just so obvious.
25:52 Then, you know, no need to add, it's just understood.
25:56 No need to add, it's just understood.
25:59 That I may or I may not come back one day.
26:08 (BIRDS CHIRPING)
26:10 (HORN BLOWS)
26:26 (DRUMMING)
26:31 (ENGINE RUMBLES)
26:33 The pollution looks very bad.
26:44 It's kind of strange being back to Manila
26:52 because now there's a lot of buildings.
26:55 I was in the Philippines 20 years back and there was nearly nothing.
27:00 I think it is the one.
27:03 No, it's not. I also could do this one.
27:08 It's not really cold, but not really bad.
27:15 Oh, yeah, I think I can see the tip. It's the one there.
27:21 (MUSIC FADES)
27:23 Here, I know it quite well because I already got videos from a guy
27:32 I am in touch with who lives in Manila.
27:35 And I also checked "Plenty of Futures" on Google.
27:39 So it's kind of already like an old friend.
27:48 If you can ask the guy to park the car as soon as possible,
27:52 like this, I can have a proper look.
27:55 You know, I really need to touch it.
28:02 If you can drop me now, like this, and then you are coming back,
28:06 and I will be here, OK?
28:08 I prefer here because there may be the security.
28:17 Let's go to the other side.
28:19 Do you see a lot of security?
28:28 You know, this is security of a building.
28:31 You are not supposed to have that kind of weapons.
28:34 It looks like more guys engaged in the war, in terrorism,
28:39 in Afghanistan or Iraq than just security people.
28:45 To be honest with you, it's a bit scary.
28:48 You don't know what is happening in the mind of the people.
28:51 If they just think that what is happening is not normal,
28:54 and if they are allowed to shoot you or not.
28:57 So that's kind of an issue.
29:00 That's why it's important to have a lawyer, right?
29:06 Well, having a lawyer, and to be honest, let me go alone checking the building
29:11 because if everybody is following me with a camera, there is no story.
29:15 [Music]
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29:39 [Music]
29:49 [Music]
29:52 This is good. This is the only good news, actually.
30:01 In principle, you know, that should be okay.
30:16 It is really climbable.
30:19 There is some horizontal ledges.
30:22 The first maybe 10 meters, they are quite close.
30:27 And after, the gap is much bigger in between two ledges,
30:31 so obviously it will be more difficult.
30:34 For what I checked this morning, it looks like there is some beams.
30:44 I think they are a little bit lousy, meaning not very solid,
30:50 but underneath the structure is solid, so I'm planning to climb the corner.
30:57 So I would be, let's say, I would be starting here, all the way to the top.
31:04 Not exactly to the top because unfortunately everything is ending here or maybe there.
31:13 There is a little bit that is missing, and I don't know if I can cross.
31:19 This part looks like it's impossible.
31:24 Of course I do love you.
31:38 And oh, about the rifle, one of the good news, it seems that this is not a real bullet,
31:46 and security people, they are not using it.
31:50 It's more something intimidating and that's it.
31:55 It's not for real use.
31:57 I don't want him to climb.
32:00 It's scary.
32:03 It's scary and it's not really nice feelings, like he's not at home and waiting what's going to happen
32:12 and what kind of news I'm going to get.
32:16 No, my love, don't worry. That's no big deal.
32:20 I will do it if I know it is safe.
32:24 Oh, OK.
32:26 And don't drink my champagne, please.
32:29 [laughs]
32:31 Well, I manage Alan's day-to-day business, and when he climbs, I coordinate all the media,
32:40 which often can be at short notice.
32:43 The President's administration is very harsh on lawbreakers, and we just don't know how they'll take this climb.
32:50 They may view it as trivial, or they may view it as serious, so it's worrying.
32:55 Alan will definitely get arrested, so we have to have a lawyer on site to represent him.
33:00 If we don't get a lawyer, though, I don't think he can risk climbing here in Manila because he might get shot.
33:07 His friends tried to find some lawyers. They said they won't do it as it's too dangerous.
33:13 He spoke to some lawyers already?
33:15 He tried to.
33:16 And?
33:17 But it wasn't successful.
33:18 So he won't help me?
33:20 Why?
33:22 Why he doesn't want to help me?
33:24 They think it's a tough client.
33:26 Well, you know, people are a bit coward, a bit chicken, and sometimes it sucks.
33:34 It's like, you know, they have no guts.
33:37 They like watching Bruce Willis on TV, or Jason Statham, but when you're asking them to do a little...
33:45 What's the fucking deal climbing in Berlin? It's nothing.
33:52 We would like to ask you not to climb.
33:54 From the beginning you told me, if you feel like climbing, you climb. If you don't want to climb, it's fine.
34:00 And we cannot... you can't change your mind at this point?
34:03 No, if I decide that I will be climbing.
34:07 Whether I am climbing or not, I still want to climb.
34:15 I am also doing it for myself. I'm not doing it because there is something involved.
34:23 I am just doing it because, as a matter of fact, I love climbing and I've been climbing my whole life long.
34:30 And I just wish to climb tomorrow and to be climbing tomorrow.
34:44 For me, you know, climbing is as important as eating, breathing and sleeping.
34:49 We need to do three things.
34:53 On the top of it, there is a fourth one I need to climb.
34:58 I am like any other human being.
35:03 I am afraid before an ascent.
35:07 I feel a kind of calm down towards my own death.
35:14 I am having responsibilities and everything, so I am sizing everything.
35:19 Here it's okay. I can stop there.
35:32 Because if we stop over there, as it's here.
35:35 Yeah, here.
35:38 Okay, we go down.
35:39 Yeah, I'm going to have to hide a bit.
35:53 The throbbing is at 200.
36:01 It's a bit of a song.
36:02 It's quite close.
36:12 I can't really afford to put my center of gravity too far away from the glasses.
36:22 [The camera is not focusing]
36:25 This one is not good at all.
36:43 It's not worth it.
36:47 I'll have to be a bit careful.
36:51 You need to touch it because it looks like so flimsy.
36:57 Of course, if one of these sheet is going down, I am going down as well.
37:02 The video of the man climbing the GT Tower in Makati was found on social media on Tuesday afternoon.
37:15 But he doesn't have a harness or any safety gear.
37:18 [The video was not captured]
37:21 The traffic was getting heavier as the heavy rain started to fall.
37:27 The security around the building was alerted.
37:30 The police, SWAT and firemen also arrived.
37:33 The spider.
37:40 There, the spider.
37:42 The little spider.
37:43 It's finished soon.
38:09 Soon.
38:10 It's in my ass.
38:29 I can't cross it.
38:32 It's impossible.
38:34 Impossible, impossible.
38:37 [The camera is not focusing]
38:40 This is the best I could do.
38:55 It's not bad actually.
39:06 I better climb down.
39:07 Easily.
39:09 We're going to go easy.
39:13 It's okay, it's okay.
39:16 Lower his men.
39:20 I am a kind of showman.
39:24 I love playing to the people.
39:27 It's a bit like theatre.
39:32 People, they are watching something happening and I just felt like I need to give them a bit more.
39:39 I am kind of a playful person.
39:49 In our society nowadays, there isn't much people that are that daring.
39:54 My whole life is based on having fun.
39:58 [The camera is not focusing]
40:00 Sir, please let him stand first.
40:14 This is what we do.
40:21 Just go with him.
40:27 [The camera is not focusing]
40:29 For me, going to jail, I kind of like it.
40:37 I like pushing, I like exploring boundaries.
40:42 And I like kicking ass of the society.
40:47 Actually, what I am delivering to the whole world is a broad message about being courageous
40:55 and also being confident.
40:57 There is the good craziness and there is the bad one.
41:06 You know what people are saying about me?
41:09 Badass.
41:11 Actually, the message is not about fucking timing.
41:24 Who cares about the timing?
41:25 It is being a bit more daring.
41:28 Realising your dreams.
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43:51 [The camera is not focusing]
43:53 [The camera is not focusing]
43:56 [The camera is not focusing]