Is Apex based on a true story?

(Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Apex.)

The latest action thriller to hit Netflix is Apex - a tense movie about a rock climber, Sasha (played by Charlize Theron), and Ben, a serial killer hunting her down (played by Taron Egerton).

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur, an Icelandic director whose previous projects include 2025 BBC One miniseries King & Conqueror and 2015's Everest, Apex is a survival drama that centres around Sasha, a grieving woman who has recently lost her partner in life and in rock climbing.

Though there have been many recent films about climbing - Alex Honnold's documentaries Free Solo and Skyscraper Live being particularly popular examples - Apex is not a documentary and doesn't take place firmly within any historical or factual basis.

However, allusions can be drawn between elements of the movie and a few different cases from real life. Read on to find out whether Apex is made up primarily of fact or fiction...

Is Apex based on a true story?

In short, Apex is not inspired by a true story.

Comparisons could be made, however, between Egerton's character and some real-life serial killers.

For example, infamous Australian serial killer Robert Hansen was known for hunting down his victims, rather than just killing them immediately.

Likewise, another Australian killer, Ivan Milat, was known for abducting backpackers, with his violent crimes inspiring the 2005 horror film Wolf Creek.

While the methods of both Milat and Hansen show similarities to Egerton's character, the cast and crew behind Apex have not confirmed whether this was intentional or not.

"The scariest things in life are always the corners that aren’t well lit, and I feel that way about Ben," Egerton told Empire in regards to the construction of his character.

Continuing, he added: "I like the allusions. I like the hints at what’s happened, the sense that a relationship with his mother ended very, very badly. But I think the moment you start to spell all of that out and be prescriptive about the character’s pathology, you lose something of the enigma.

"There’s a lot you learn in The Silence Of The Lambs about Hannibal Lecter, but there’s also a great deal [you don’t know]."

While Egerton clearly looked towards some iconic fictional killers, he also took inspiration from a very unlikely source — Peter Pan.

"When I was originally sent the script, he was more of an archetypal 'wild man of the woods' with a full beard and top knot," the actor stated in the film's official production notes.

Working with the director, he suggested that the character was tweaked so it "felt more like a kid playing pretend, a kid trying to demonstrate that he's a grown‑up and knows his way around these parts. That felt fruitful, and that's where some of the Peter Pan ideas came from."

So, regardless of where exactly screenwriter Jeremy Robbins or Egerton got their inspiration from, they both managed to put audiences firmly in the seat of Sasha as she struggles for her survival, blending a familiar serial killer narrative with a location that isn't often seen within the genre.

Apex is streaming now on Netflix.

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