'The Dark Wizard' examines the soaring life and death of a legendary climber

For years, Dean Potter stood atop the climbing world, attaining a mystique arsenic a rebellious tone who carved his ain way up mountains and into the entity — done BASE jumping and wingsuit flying.

But Potter, who struggled with unchecked intelligence illness, depicted himself arsenic an antihero outsider with a spiritual transportation to the ravens of Yosemite, and could besides beryllium juvenile, selfish and oblivious. Until his decease successful 2015, Potter pushed astatine each bound helium saw, adjacent erstwhile it meant courting contention oregon costing him friendships and concern deals.

Now Potter is the taxable of “The Dark Wizard,” a four-part HBO documentary bid premiering Tuesday that not lone soars to the top heights helium achieved but burrows wrong his caput acknowledgment to in-depth interviews — including blunt speech from his rival Alex Honnold of “Free Solo” fame — and entree to the introspective torment recorded successful his idiosyncratic journals. The effect is an often exhilarating, often disturbing and ever poignant communicative of an creator and adventurer who lived to situation the limits of what humans could do.

Filmmakers Nick Rosen and Peter Mortimer knew and worked with Potter for years. They spoke precocious by video astir their efforts to seizure the emergence and autumn of a modern Icarus. This interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

What was the driving unit down telling this communicative and wherefore now, much than a decennary aft his death?

Rosen: Dean was this larger-than-life icon successful the climbing world, but we did not privation to marque a hagiography. We wanted to peel backmost these contradictory layers — helium wants to beryllium axenic but helium has an egoic request for nationalist glory — and amusement these things bash conflict with each different wrong him.

Mortimer: The communicative is Dean’s complexity — his analyzable narration with climbing, with his ain motivations, with his friends. And arsenic filmmakers, we knew this was the large communicative from our world, but erstwhile idiosyncratic passes away, you person to hold until the timing feels right.

Rosen: It was invaluable to hold agelong capable that adjacent these crusty Gen X dudes are looking backmost done a lens of sensitivity astir intelligence health, abusive relationships and the toxic machismo that was taken for granted and astir celebrated astatine a definite time. We caught them astatine a infinitesimal erstwhile they could look backmost with a nuanced perspective.

Did your relationship and moving narration with Dean marque this task easier oregon harder?

Rosen: Both. It granted america a level of entree to his interior ellipse and his sister, Elizabeth, who provided america with his idiosyncratic journals. That spot was truly important.

Mortimer: I’d known Dean for much than 10 years but I couldn’t judge the susceptible broadside successful his journals — helium was truthful unfastened and truthful questioning. He was similar an insecure teenager.

Rosen: I did not person a elemental narration with Dean, truthful if the documentary is inflected emotionally with our idiosyncratic experience, it wasn’t each positive. There’s emotion but determination were truly challenging aspects of his property that we wanted to recognize better.

Dean Potter successful “The Dark Wizard” connected HBO.

(Dean Fidelman / HBO)

What astir Alex Honnold — his candor is refreshing but helium inactive seems anxious to puncture Dean’s mystique. Did you expect that attitude?

Rosen: We expected it from him due to the fact that we cognize Alex. He says precisely what helium thinks. He talks astir Dean arsenic this inspiration and visionary feline but helium besides conscionable says, “I’m going to telephone B.S. connected each the spiritual, mystical stuff.” The documentary gave america a accidental to spell beauteous heavy into Alex, too. As idiosyncratic said, Dean was a quality but Alex is simply a machine. I deliberation Alex’s critiques are much revealing astir Alex than astir Dean.

Dean ever talked astir his demons and being driven by the “death consequence” of his sport. Could helium person been large without those demons?

Rosen: Our travel into Dean’s interior satellite showed that those feats were undergirded by his request to look his fears done a truly elaborate process, with each his readying and past doing it. These large projects were cleanable for Dean — arsenic idiosyncratic who’s undiagnosed and unmedicated with a beauteous superior intelligence illness, helium recovered a mode to, astatine least, grasp moments of bid done the crucible of these acts. It was his lone therapy.

Mortimer: He needed to spell heavy and look death. You tin spot afterwards he’s walking connected aerial and couldn’t beryllium happier.

Do you privation that astatine a definite point, aft helium went to therapy, that helium had taken medication, adjacent if it meant helium stopped pursuing specified monumental acts?

Mortimer: His intelligence wellness struggles are truthful connected with his request to bash these incredible, beauteous things. As a filmmaker and arsenic a fan, I admired what helium did and was gladsome helium was going done the conflict to execute these things.

But arsenic idiosyncratic who knew him, you privation the champion for your friends, you privation them to beryllium unchangeable and to beryllium blessed and to survive.

Rosen: I bash privation that helium had entree to the benignant of intelligence wellness attraction that would person helped him due to the fact that helium lived a beingness that was truly marked by pain. However, fixed the cards that Dean was dealt successful a clip earlier radical were much literate astir intelligence health, and contempt the symptom helium caused different people, astatine slightest helium was capable to marque a beauteous thrust retired of his life.