Photos By Max Mandell And Courtesy Of The Nitro Circus
All of us dirt bike fans dearly miss the Nitro Circus TV show and can’t wait to get our fix on any of the insane stunts that the group of many skills, personalities and talents is up to. Luckily for us Dirt Rider magazine was invited out to a screening and, while we don’t want to ruin the awesome 3D experience for you like a bad trailer, we will tell you that whether you love dirt bikes or not—this is a movie that will get your adrenaline going! After the film we sat down with Travis Pastrana and asked him a few quick questions about the film they have all been working so hard on.
Dirt Rider: You’ve had a ton of injuries from various stunts throughout the years. Is that something that keeps you from participating in a lot of the stunts?
Travis Pastrana: Yea, without a doubt. I definitely love to be on the dirt bike more and I haven’t really ridden to much lately aside from doing some wheelies for the latest Gymkhana video. But since last years XGames its sucked. I’ve got the biggest playground in the world, and my wife loves riding so she’s riding all the time. I just need to get my ankle healed up a little bit better. And I need to get surgery on my shoulder because it keeps coming out of place, even driving the cars. I don’t have an ACL or PCL either so that makes it tough. But in about a year or so hopefully I’ll be better and able to do a lot more motorcycle stuff.
DR: Do you know your surgery count?
TP199: Yea, 31. I was really trying to get more years of age than surgery. I thought before my ankle that would happen but now it’s not looking like it will, at least not anytime soon.
DR: You mentioned that you were 100% against the idea of a 3D movie at first, but what was the stunt that changed your mind on that?
TP199: The stunt for sure that sold me on 3D was in Panama. It was one of our first shoots. And actually, the thing with 3D cameras was that it made it feel not “Nitro style.” Like we had guys that were filming on the Transformers movies and we had the best guys with the nicest cameras. The cameras were literally over half our budget. It really just slowed everything down because now we weren’t working with our camera crew. Like when we see something one of us will just go up and hit it and the cameras are filming and that’s the way it’s always been. So now they are setting up and asking things like, “What is this?” “How do you jump?” “How high do you fly?” and “Where do you go?” So at first it felt like we were working with a bunch of rookies on our biggest film and we felt like it was gonna suck! But then we saw it in the actual 3D where we saw the actual depth and you could see we were actually 60 some stories high. And from that point on I was like, “Ok, it’s totally worth it.” And actually, a couple of times we had to hire a second set of guys because the people who were used to working on the movies always have the opportunity to do a couple of takes. You know, they can set up and send a fake car through first or just do whatever to get their shot ready. A lot of our stunts are one take wonders and a lot of the first shots were actually missed. It was tough because a lot of the stuff you don’t do twice. Not that the shots were missed, but just out of frame because they weren’t used to doing it our way. So originally, that’s why I didn’t want to use 3D.
DR: How do you guys come up with an idea, and from there, how do you decide who gets to do it?
TP199: Really, I mean, it’s just since we started working with Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine and those guys came up with some terrible ideas. They were like, “Well lets just get a bull…” and we’d have to say no, no, no. So for Nitro, it’s kind of how its always been and that is if you come up with an idea then you have to try it first. But you know if you come up with an idea that you can’t do like if it’s something for a skier, or if it’s one of Roner’s ideas (our skier) with something to do with a dirt bike or whatever, then definitely we’ll talk about it. But if it’s in your realm of possibility then you’re screwed. So don’t come up with an idea that’s gonna kill somebody. But then it’s kinda good that way to because if your not the best person for the job and you do it first because it was your idea, and if it doesn’t work than somebody else can try and come through with it. I think for the general moviegoer, they don’t really understand it all. Like the biggest question we get asked is, “Does it hurt?” And we’re like no, things on TV, that’s all just magic. Nothing hurts on TV. [[laughs]] So from that perspective, I think it’s neat to show a fail and a make. So the principal of you coming up with an idea means that you have to do it first has worked in multiple ways.
DR: Is it hard to push your friends to do some scary stunt?
TP199: No actually, and with Nitro nobody has to be asked to do a stunt… well with Tommy we have to ask. If we are asking somebody to do a stunt, it’s not a base jump or anything with that high of a risk. Most of the stuff that Tommy does, yea, he might break a rib or something small but he’ll be ok. That’s the beauty of the crew; you just get to do what you ask for. And usually people are just gung-ho and they get hurt all the time. Or you’ve got 99% of the people who say, “I don’t understand this… it’s not going to work.” But our crew does a really good job at analyzing the risk. Everyone is willing to step up, and as people end up getting hurt throughout the film, you realize that you’ve gotta step out of your boundaries. Because plenty of times the right guy for the stunt is hurt so you have to be ready to do it so it doesn’t go to waste. And it’s awesome to have that dynamic and to know you’ve got someone who always has your back.
For more info on Nitro Circus 3D The Movie go to www.nitrocircus.com. And to view the official trailer visit http://nitrocircus.com/go/the-nitro-circus-3d-movie/. Nitro Circus 3D the movie will be playing in select theatres starting August 8th, 2012. Be sure to make it out there and support TP199 and the crew. You know we will be!
