The Human Story with Greg and Shaun MacGillivray

This month, Red Bull and Apple released a surfing movie shot in 3D. Greg, your late partner Jim Freeman made Outside the Third Dimension, a 3D surf film, back in 1964. What did you think when you first saw it?

Greg: I was a student at UC Santa Barbara when I saw a poster for Outside the Third Dimension, a surfing film shot in 3D. Naturally, I had to see it. While much of the film struggled to capture surfing effectively in 3D, there was one 10-minute sequence that was absolutely brilliant. I was so impressed that I went up to introduce myself to the producer, Jim Freeman, after the screening. That conversation sparked a friendship and filmmaking partnership that lasted until Jim’s tragic death in a helicopter accident while we were shooting a series of commercials for Kodak.

That remarkable 3D sequence showed me the tremendous potential of the medium, something my team and I would later explore ourselves when we made an IMAX 3D film in the Grand Canyon—the perfect setting for an immersive 3D experience.

Jim and I were always driven by the desire to do things that had never been done before. That’s what inspired Jim to attempt a 3D surfing film in the first place. Capturing surfers riding waves in 3D was an almost impossible technical challenge at the time, but that was exactly the kind of challenge we loved.

Stanley Kubrick came to you because you were doing things in the air and in the water that nobody else could. So much of that is standard in blockbusters now. Does it feel like the mainstream has caught up to you?

Greg: It’s true that many of the techniques we pioneered 50 years ago have become commonplace in filmmaking today. But that’s the exciting thing about this business—there are always new frontiers to explore and new ways to capture images that audiences have never seen before. Just look at the extraordinary shots filmmakers can achieve with drones today.

I think that’s what every great filmmaker strives to do: push the boundaries of what’s possible, experiment with new equipment, and challenge inventors and engineers to develop technologies that open up entirely new creative possibilities.

With every film we make, we try to do something different, something that hasn’t been done before. That spirit of innovation is what keeps filmmaking so challenging, rewarding, and endlessly exciting for me.

Your movie Everest took four years to make. Your crew hauled IMAX cameras to the summit, and in May 1996, they were at base camp when the deadly storm hit. Their radios helped coordinate the rescue. Then the film went on to become the most successful giant-screen documentary ever made. Did that experience change how you make movies or choose your projects?

Greg: The original inspiration for Everest was actually the IMAX screen itself. I wanted to take full advantage of its enormous vertical dimensions and give audiences a real sense of the breathtaking height and scale of the world’s tallest mountains. What better place to do that than the Himalayas?

But as I began researching the project, I realized there was a much more compelling human story to tell—one about the extraordinary drive to accomplish something that seems impossible. When we discovered Jamling Norgay’s desire to climb Everest to honor the legacy of his father, Tenzing Norgay, we found the emotional heart of the film. Suddenly, this wasn’t just a movie about mountain climbing. It was a universal story about courage, perseverance, and the human spirit that could resonate with everyone, whether they’d ever climbed a mountain or not.

The production itself was an enormous undertaking. We spent four years making the film, including developing a specially designed IMAX camera that could operate in temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit at the summit. The last thing we wanted was to haul a massive camera to the top of the world only to have it freeze or jam.

We approached the entire expedition almost like a military operation, with meticulous planning, backup systems, and redundancy built into everything we did. We had the best medical team, the best communications system, and the most experienced Sherpas on the mountain. We even had backup specialists ready to step in if someone became ill or injured. We knew the risks, and we were fully prepared—and budgeted—to return the following year if we couldn’t reach the summit in 1996.

Then came the challenge of shaping all that extraordinary footage into a compelling film. We spent two years in the editing room experimenting with different ways to tell the story. After six versions, we finally found the right balance between the spectacular visual experience and the deeply personal human journey.

And I think that’s one of the most important lessons of Everest: No matter how breathtaking the images or how ambitious the filmmaking, it’s the human story that ultimately connects with audiences. That’s something I’ve carried with me into every film we’ve made since.

Shaun, you co-directed Superhuman Body and Cities of the Future with your dad. What’s it like working as father and son on set, and who wins when you disagree?

Shaun: I love working with my dad. Over the last 20 years, he’s taught me so much about filmmaking, but also about curiosity, perseverance, and caring deeply about the stories you tell. We come from different generations, so we bring different perspectives and tastes, which I think makes the work stronger. When we disagree, we try to bring it back to one question: What will make the film better for the audience? We share the same mission—to tell emotionally powerful, visually extraordinary stories on this incredible canvas. He has stepped back a bit over the last few years but I love his creativity and energy.

IMAX is now Hollywood’s biggest stage. After 50 years, why does the biggest screen still enchant audiences?

Shaun: Because it can still make you feel like you’re seeing something for the first time. In a world where our attention is constantly being pulled in different directions, IMAX invites you to surrender to a story. You feel as though you’re standing on that mountaintop or diving beneath the ocean’s surface. And you’re experiencing it with other people—you hear the gasps, feel the laughter, share that moment of wonder. That combination of immersion, spectacle, and connection makes going to the movies feel like an event. The screen is enormous, but what stays with you is how it makes you feel.

What’s the film you most want to make?

Shaun: The hard part is choosing. I’m fascinated by the frontiers we’re still exploring—from the depths of the ocean and the possibilities of space to the extraordinary things happening inside our own bodies. I’m also drawn to the people whose ideas and discoveries are shaping our future. The film I most want to make would bring that sense of discovery to life through a deeply human story—something that leaves audiences amazed, hopeful, and curious to learn more. Especially young people. I love the possibility that a film could spark an interest that stays with someone for the rest of their life.