Spike Jonze's Legendary Career | Epicly Later'd

Summary

VICE's "Epicly Later'd" explores the legendary career of Spike Jonze, an influential figure in skateboarding, photography, and film-making. The episode chronicles how Jonze transitioned from a passionate BMX enthusiast to a skateboarding icon, capturing the essence of skate culture through his photography and groundbreaking videos like "Video Days." The documentary further explores Jonze's foray into music videos, with significant collaborations with artists such as Sonic Youth, which eventually led him to the world of feature filmmaking. Through anecdotes from friends and collaborators, the episode highlights Spike Jonze's innovative spirit and his impact on various artistic realms, showcasing his ability to blend creativity with authenticity.

Highlights

• Spike Jonze started his career through skateboarding, becoming an influential culture icon. 🛹
• He mastered creating skate videos that felt authentic and energized the viewing experience. 🎥
• Collaborating with Sonic Youth, Jonze vaulted from skateboard culture to music video fame. 🌟
• Creating 'Video Days' pushed the boundaries of how skateboarding was visually presented. 🚀
• Spike's storytelling combines raw authenticity with polished cinematography, showing his versatility. 🎨

Key Takeaways

• Spike Jonze revolutionized skateboarding videos, making them a cultural phenomenon. 🛹
• He ventured into music videos, collaborating with renowned artists like Sonic Youth. 🎥
• Jonze's filmmaking journey showcases pushing artistic boundaries with a distinct style. 🍿
• The documentary emphasizes Spike's grassroots approach and genuine passion for creativity. ✨
• Jonze's transition from skateboarding to film was seamless, rooted in authenticity and innovation. 🎬

Overview

Spike Jonze's career began in the world of skateboarding, where he made his mark through his innovative and culturally engaging videos. His work, including 'Video Days,' captured the spirit of skateboarding, turning mundane tricks into masterpieces. As an artist, his journey reflects a profound connection to his roots, yet striving to elevate the medium to new heights. 📈

Not simply content with the success in skateboarding, Jonze explored new avenues within the music video industry. He collaborated with legendary names like Sonic Youth, effectively marrying his dynamic visual style with powerful music. This foray into music videos was just another platform where Jonze's authenticity and creativity could shine. 🌟

The documentary by VICE, 'Epicly Later'd,' serves as a celebration of Spike Jonze's groundbreaking influence across multiple art forms. It explores Jonze's genuine passion and fearless pursuit of pushing boundaries, encapsulating his unique ability to transform ideas into reality. His story is one of relentless creativity and inspiration for artists across various disciplines. ✨

Chapters

• 00:00 - 10:00: Introduction and Early Career The chapter titled 'Introduction and Early Career' seems to begin with a morning scene, setting the stage for the story or context. However, the given transcript is incomplete and does not provide enough information about the specific details or events described in the chapter.
• 10:00 - 20:00: Freestyle BMX Days The chapter titled "Freestyle BMX Days" begins with a burst of energy and excitement. The narrator appears to be deeply engrossed in the thrill of BMX riding, surrounded by the sounds of fast-paced music. The excitement is palpable as they express an irresistible urge to continue, despite foreign elements or challenges in their path. The chapter captures the essence of freestyle BMX, blending the adrenaline of the sport with the spontaneity of the moment.
• 20:00 - 30:00: Introduction to Photography The chapter 'Introduction to Photography' discusses the impact of Spike Jonze, who used his unique style in skateboarding videos to reach audiences in a new way. His unconventional approach is highlighted as having brought skateboarding culture closer to the general public. Additionally, Jonze's transition from skateboarding videos to directing music videos is seen as groundbreaking, illustrating his versatile storytelling capabilities. The chapter underscores Jonze's influence in both fields and his ability to connect with audiences in unorthodox manners.
• 30:00 - 40:00: Video Days and Skateboarding Videos The chapter titled 'Video Days and Skateboarding Videos' discusses the impact and recognition of skateboarders, highlighting a moment where a skateboarder is compared to an Academy Award winner, which signifies the high regard the community holds for him. An enthusiastic introduction mentions Spike Jones, setting a tone of excitement for the episode.
• 40:00 - 50:00: Transition to Music Videos In this chapter, the speaker discusses the significant impact that a photographer named Justin skate had on their life. Justin skate is highly revered, almost like a deity, due to his incredible work in skate photography, particularly with Trans World. The speaker admires Justin skate as their favorite skate photographer who has created noteworthy videos such as 'Video Days' and 'Rubber Sheep'. In addition to his photography and video contributions, Justin skate transitioned into directing music videos and films, achieving considerable success, including winning an Academy Award. Despite these accomplishments, the speaker appreciates that Justin skate remains connected to skateboarding and continues to be a proficient skateboarder.
• 50:00 - 60:00: Impact on Skate Culture The chapter focuses on an individual's journey to visit someone they admire, who is eating breakfast at a restaurant. This person is excited about the opportunity to pick up their companion and visit Girl Skateboards. The chapter hints at a hopeful and enthusiastic perspective, with a light-hearted and humorous tone towards the introduction of the event. The speaker reflects on their origins, mentioning growing up in Maryland, which could signify the beginning of their personal journey or their relation to skate culture.
• 60:00 - 70:00: Film Career and Beyond The chapter explores the speaker's background, starting from their upbringing in Washington, DC. The speaker briefly mentions their high school experience, referencing Walt Whitman High School's class of 1980.
• 70:00 - 75:00: Legacy and Influence The chapter titled 'Legacy and Influence' highlights the early BMX scene in the 1980s, focusing on the speaker's personal experiences. The speaker, a member of the class of 1985, recounts their time as a freestyle BMX rider, mentioning the scarcity of riders at the time and the prominence of Rockville BMX Spa, a major shop on the East Coast. A young employee, referred to as 'Spike', is noted to have been from the class of 1987. The narrative paints a picture of the BMX community and its influential figures in that era.

Spike Jonze's Legendary Career | Epicly Later'd Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 foreign it was a good morning ready to start the
• 00:30 - 01:00 day foreign I couldn't help it [Music]
• 01:00 - 01:30 those escape videos that Spike did like they spoke to us in a way like no other escape videos he kind of brought skateboarding back to the people in a sense foreign [Music] music video director oh that's like pretty crazy to be in my kitchen in Torrance and there's a message from Kim Gordon Spike went from skateboarding and making music videos like no one at that point
• 01:30 - 02:00 it's like we thought like that's as high as this guy's gonna go every skateboarder in the world was like holy this dude's getting Academy Award right now he's a skater [Music] uh what's up welcome back to Epic related I'm really excited about this episode it's with Spike Jones who's a
• 02:00 - 02:30 huge influence on me I loved his photography I'm a little nervous because this dude Justin skate is somewhat of a deity I mean he did all these amazing photos for Trans World I'd say he's my favorite skate photographer he made amazing videos like video days rubber sheep went on to do really cool music videos films and uh one thing I really liked about him is that he still seems skate to me even though he's done everything Academy Award um I've seen him skate he's a good skater and anyway we're gonna creep up
• 02:30 - 03:00 on him he's eating breakfast over here at this restaurant we're gonna pick him up uh we're gonna go down to girl skateboards and just I'm just hoping to get whatever I can and I'm really excited thank you [Laughter] that intro better have been good because I'm not doing it again with him listening I guess if we just started chronologically you grew up in Maryland
• 03:00 - 03:30 we're gonna go all the way back there just just I just want to get like a little general gist of where you're from man I'm trying to because we'll be here for all day if I go back if I just you know you can do it uh broad Strokes the um yeah I grew up in DC and uh new Jeff and you know Walt women High School class of 80 well
• 03:30 - 04:00 I was class of 85. look at that hot dude and that Spike he was class of 87. in the early 80s I was a freestyle bmxer like I would ride ramps and there weren't a whole lot of us but we had the biggest shop on the East Coast called Rockville BMX Spa like somehow before I knew him got a job there so this little kid that would pop in and work he looked like he was probably what 12 or 13 working there but he looked like he was like
• 04:00 - 04:30 eight I mean look at how little he looked like he got his nickname Spike at the bike shop like you know he was Adam Spiegel to me until uh Jay the guy who ran Rockville BMX started kind of Spike I would work there in the summer times only when they would have these big like Freestyle shows so like that was one of the stops all of the big teams would stop at and set up ramps in the parking lot across the street from Rockville BMX
• 04:30 - 05:00 in particular I remember when Haro came to town team Haro they just all hit it off there and we went out bowling and drinking and with them and they love spike and they kidnapped Spike and took him on the road with him that's where he met Andy Jenkins and Mark Bloom I think they were running freestyling magazine he left for California within a week or two of graduating he might not even gone to his graduation when it came to hiring a new guy I needed a new guy at the magazine
• 05:00 - 05:30 for some reason Spike popped into my head because he had this amazing personality and he had a really good way of getting along with people and uh he was funny well thank you for that lovely introduction there Jim Bob but also he did have the camera at the time so he was kind of that's when he started to really develop it thank you So eventually he moved over to pretty much being the photographer for the magazine [Music]
• 05:30 - 06:00 [Applause] spike is a definition of freestyle I mean he just never really know what to expect or like uh what what version of spike is is surfacing and he just has this Creative Energy that just blows up and either get out of the way or you just hold on and it can bring you anywhere foreign I think just seeing seeing the world a different way and just seeing it as like
• 06:00 - 06:30 a as a playground and trying to find places that are less traveled to play in is kind of how spikes looked at every everything in his life whether it was riding a skateboard or riding his bike we were all skating anyway and you know we developed more and more of an interest as we got to know more skaters around the area and we knew a few Pro skaters and we had gotten to shoot them and that was through Spike because he was always shooting and some of the skaters were hanging out with the BMX guys so he would shoot the skate guys
• 06:30 - 07:00 become tight friends with them because that's what he does with everyone so then we got sucked into that that industry I guess you could say my friends were Street skating so I just started shooting photos of the Riders and skaters like I'd kind of just ask a lot of questions and shoot a lot of photos and like make take a lot of bad photos like take endlessly bad photos until I was like oh that almost worked and I'm trying to figure out why it worked and eventually I started shooting for Transworld he was great at mixing raw with polished as a kid I would just
• 07:00 - 07:30 sit and just study his photos in Transworld you know Spike had a very unique look there was always like a sense of excitement there was always a sense of energy you're always trying to capture a trick the way it like in its best form it was like Jason Lee like a member shooting some photo of him and just thinking about the right angle where like you know he's going to point his nose in a certain way right about halfway through and if you're two feet
• 07:30 - 08:00 over the Trick's gonna look totally different the first time I actually ever met spike is the time I shot my first blind dad backside nose grind across a bench in Burbank California Spike came out and I didn't know who he was and he had a camera bag and I was just like oh it's cool man like where'd you get the cameras at your mom's or something you know what I mean and he's like dumb I'm a photographer I shoot Spike felt like me looked like me talked like me and he has a real gift with like
• 08:00 - 08:30 taking people out of their element making him feel comfortable and just being a real person before I'd photographer his photos went to Transworld but he worked at World Industries so he shot guns he shot Jason Lee he shot Ron Chapman he shot Jeremy Klein his photography is like burned into my brain there's one it's a sequence at night and it was Jeremy Klein doing a kickflip backside grab off a curb but it was one frame with like flash sequence that's my childhood right
• 08:30 - 09:00 there Spike's photos I mean the first real guys I skated with a lot in terms of and photographed a lot were like the Earth right when world started because Rocco was also in Torrance world was only like four people at the time so he's like yeah you want to shoot the ads and so I started shooting his ads you know Rocco was really smart and really witty and from the beginning the spirit was always the same which is like oh you oh we can't do that yeah we can it was just a wild thing going on over
• 09:00 - 09:30 there because Rocco would let it happen you know he was probably one of the first to create a skateboard company as a skateboarder for skateboarders and it was very successful at that as well I mean it was world like World dominated what was cool in skating then and Spike was right there that's how I went from photos to videos like I was shooting his ads and we were out skating one day and I asked him if he was going to do Escape video he's like yeah I want to do one I
• 09:30 - 10:00 just don't have time to shoot it do you want to do it I was like yeah cool okay and I didn't know how I didn't know anything about that and he just gave me the company credit card and he said yeah okay can you just write there and like I think we were like at some spot and gave me the company credit card he said go find you have to buy a camera and editing and some editing stuff it was like the brats took over had their own skateboard company [Music] foreign
• 10:00 - 10:30 [Music] [Applause] [Applause] that's what happens when you give a bunch of like 18 year old kids the keys to the whatever something metaphor for the kingdom [Music]
• 10:30 - 11:00 [Music] yeah but I don't know where the master is I might have we left it at the dubbing house probably really paying that much attention it's my claim to fame right there well his impact on skateboarding is
• 11:00 - 11:30 enormous because I I think it feels to me like nine skaters out of ten say their their favorite Escape video of history and history is video days video days was something that was like hugely influential to me typically skate videos would be a single trick edit another single trick at another you know and so on and so on
• 11:30 - 12:00 not many people were just pushing around with the camera fisheye and following somebody as they're doing a trick here a trick here and a trick there it shows your style the way you push how you look on a skateboard because the little nuances the things that like skating nerd like me would geek out on video days was just you know raw he kind of brought skateboarding back to the
• 12:00 - 12:30 people in a sense video days was just this the reality of how skateboarding was a bunch of dumb kids riding around in a car or drinking 40 ounces like that's why I was so impactful is because it was actually skateboarding tell me about video days you told me before it sort of was going into Mark's World in a way yeah I guess the video I mean again like at the time I don't think I would have articulated it but I like this but I
• 12:30 - 13:00 think what I was doing I just wanted to make a video that felt like hanging out with Mark okay come on out here out here okay good [Laughter] good it was kind of like never explained because Mark you can't you can't ever fully understand how he thinks and why he does what he does and I wanted the video to feel that you like you don't quite explain anything Lean Forward into the mirror
• 13:00 - 13:30 [Music] he just had endless ideas he's like I got a new trick it's like you slide on your nose on top of the curb I was like what and we write world and he's like I don't know I haven't figured out how to get out of it yet but it's like this and he went up and did a nose one side on the red curb I was like that is ridiculous and I was like I could never
• 13:30 - 14:00 imagine him getting out of it it didn't seem like it was possible because you've never seen it before and in his mind anything was possible and we went to this High School in Santa Monica it had that kinked Rail and again he was like he was like we're parked outside you know we stopped he's like I wanted to do that Rail and we're all looking at it like but it's Gotta It's gotta Bend IN it's got a huge like kink in it you can't do that and he's like no I think I could just if
• 14:00 - 14:30 I like lean back I could just like board side through it I don't know we're all like what this is possible [Music] and I think it was the third try he landed most away and we're like holy and we're like the rest of the big were like no we don't even need to do anything like we got that that's crazy and then he just kept going [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
• 14:30 - 15:00 and then like by like noon he rolled his ankle we're like okay I guess we're done and we went back and cut it in his part was done [Applause] you're like a crazy person walking around now Mark Gonzalez and Spike Jones were a funny combo together okay start recording come over let me do use one of my foot techniques okay come over they were kind of like two kids like beefing
• 15:00 - 15:30 with each other like and I remember they would like wrestle and fight and it kind of like Get Serious and I think that Spike working with Mark Gonzalez from such a young age okay Mike it made him I'd be able to adapt and to work with anybody any artist anything in the world because Mark Gonzalez is just like a million people [Music] I've been sober for about five months
• 15:30 - 16:00 now I I quit told cold turkey I don't smoke anymore either I just keep him behind my ear for good luck all right [Applause] at one point mark goes you know I want
• 16:00 - 16:30 to go get some clips in Mexico we go to Mexico we go to skate park and then we start driving up in these mountains and Mark's like I want to drive the car off a cliff it was just total like you know just like Spike and Mark just crazy gorilla style freestyling it you gotta go fast the car neutral stick on the gas like propped in there and Mark's like I'm just gonna chop it with my hand and like you only get one shot at that you know what I mean the car flies off [Music]
• 16:30 - 17:00 it's just like probably everything that Spike does in life comes up with the crazy idea and it ends up like working out perfect that was rad Mark we pulled it off wait your so your mom thought you really died I thought they died she called me up I sent her the video and she's like that's so sad they all
• 17:00 - 17:30 you know are they you know how are their parents and they're like no Mom they didn't die [Music] when we finish the video Mark went to see Sonic Youth at the Palladium and he was when he was leaving he was driving by and he saw them getting a tour bus he's like hey you guys we made a skate video and he gave them the video the VHS copy of video that's basically how I got into music videos is that Kim Gordon called me from saw that video and said hey we're making this a music video we
• 17:30 - 18:00 want to have skateboarding and it will you come shoot it [Music] you'll never forget you the way Kim and I and Thurston watch that video where the kids are in the car and the videos they just drive it off the cliff and I was like I thought it was brilliant and I found out that this kid Spike Jones was behind it so that's when I contacted him and started to talk to him about being in the video
• 18:00 - 18:30 Tamara was directing the video and she said if something out as much as you want I was like okay and I so I hung out every day I was like Film School in a month like in one month a crash course in what a production designer is what a cinematographer is I got to shoot a 16 millimeter camera for the first time he'd never really done it in a professional way like that like real cameras like real video and we're just about to shoot any stops and he pulls me over he's like I've never done this
• 18:30 - 19:00 before and there's like an entire crew and I just looked back in when I was like but he knows that [Music] Thurston when I met him he told me that they liked the video a lot because it felt voyeuristic I was like I was like okay cool thank you but and what's voyeuristic mean and [Music] this is actually behind our house in this is Sonic Youth the first frame I
• 19:00 - 19:30 shot the whole thing and I went in shot six in a row and then six in a row six in a row there's times in your life that like your life has changed you know and it's like Andy and Lou hiring me at the magazine when I was 17 or Rocco saying yeah you want to make skate videos okay here's some credit card or you know Kim calling me and asking me to make this music video and you don't really know at the time that it is but it's certain but it's certainly like exciting and it's like whoa that's like pretty crazy to be
• 19:30 - 20:00 in my kitchen in Torrance and there's a message from Kim Gordon but at the time I'm just excited to kind of make stuff with you know just keep everyone so we're making magazines and taking photos and also that's when I met Rick and so I live with Megan one time I come home and there's this like blue Acura in front of the house I'm like oh this one looks like Rick Howard's car it's weird and they go in and Rick Howard's there and I got to know Rick really well and I loved him and he basically within a
• 20:00 - 20:30 month lived with us and uh because he was dating he was dating Megan yeah Megan ran sales at world all right what you always wait till I'm mad to start antagonizing me what's so funny then by this point that world's big like it went from like four people to I don't know how many people 80 people or something it was big the emergence of the world came on so strong and hard
• 20:30 - 21:00 and there was a lot of money and I remember there was a lot of pressure at that stage that's when things started to escalate and get serious and it was pushing guys new guys are coming in and I remember the quote out with the old in with the new is that your new boyfriend what the new yeah Jeremy broken it lost its innocence and I think Spike saw that felt that I remember thinking this is the beginning of the end of that all this stuff was happening that we
• 21:00 - 21:30 weren't all that comfortable with sometimes I think you know we just liked it when it was smaller when it was like this little thing and and so I think that's part partially you know why girl started is just to go and do this smaller thing again it was just on a whim like random night like all right we're gonna do a company you know and it actually became like a real thought let's just try something different just like every everything else that was going on at that time how did that go down how did you guys know not pretty not good because
• 21:30 - 22:00 basically what happened was we left without telling him like giving him no warning whatsoever which was obviously not cool you know we were friends with Rocco and friends with Rodney and I talked to Rocco last year about it and it was really funny because he was like you're doing exactly what I did so like how am I to be upset about it this is like the very first word series that we did to everybody's name with their with the word girl
• 22:00 - 22:30 in the language of their nationality [Music] [Music] the idea of just making a skateboard company that was fun and that everybody was stoked about like that everybody was part of it I think you know the team really was
• 22:30 - 23:00 like it was the guy's Rick wanted to skate with when girl first formed I knew Spike was going to be a part of it but I don't think at that time we thought about like oh we're gonna make like pretty cool videos into like fun skits and that didn't even cross my mind [Music] the way he is is because he always took
• 23:00 - 23:30 it to another level you know what I mean and I could say that for skits like some of my favorite skits like you know Eric Costa and Charlie Chaplin that was the first one I was like wow this is like it's more than just skateboarding that was a really cool piece [Music] you think about the chaplain thing like that was all because of him we trusted Spike what he was trying to get us to do
• 23:30 - 24:00 foreign [Music] session was fun it was based around like that bad acting [Music] when he has a vision he's focused and there's no realm but when he's not it's like he's a maniac I can't believe he's still alive this
• 24:00 - 24:30 guy seriously he's incredible this was a over in the Richmond District we were driving the car up and down the street and driving on the sidewalk news kids and on This Woman's Suburban Street and then she leaned her head out the window it's like get out of here I'm gonna call the cops and Chef he's like put your head back in the window lady we're trying to make a realistic movie here [Music] [Applause] [Music]
• 24:30 - 25:00 foreign do you remember if the Goldfish intro was shot first or sabotaged that's a good question so are we biting sabotage [Music]
• 25:00 - 25:30 goldfish sabotage the timeline's almost kind of irrelevant because it's sort of like one of those things of like Spike just trying to figure stuff out with a lot of bunch of his friends we were into this whole thing of like kind of using spirit gum and putting on mustaches and wigs and just becoming whoever and Spike
• 25:30 - 26:00 was totally sort of an integrated part of this dress-up campaign Spike and yeah they kind of figured out any bit of driving getting air over the Cresta Hills bottoming out I mean it's not like the shocks were in great condition we would probably Bop the thing people went ape crazy in a way that we didn't hadn't really had for like any other song ever so that was kind of like this holy moment wow this is like
• 26:00 - 26:30 this thing that we made that's bigger than all of us like that era of music videos he was just like dreaming up and making videos like all the time and it was I think it was very carefree and like this would be fun to do this let's do this you know like growing up easy boy potties that's our background sort of at least some of our inspiration with all this choreography also let me tell you original stuff [Applause]
• 26:30 - 27:00 [Music] he did this video for dinosaur or Junior called field of pain and I was like 14 and he had me come unset and I showed up real early right before they were searching it's like six in the morning and he was like 25 directing this video and the whole casting or the whole Crews there watching and he starts tearing
• 27:00 - 27:30 this golf cart around like around the street we were shooting on and flips the golf cart like immediately flips it everybody's like who is this kid director like he already flipped a golf cart we haven't even started shooting it oh I remember when Spike kind of started blowing up like you know it's like he started doing like some of those like Far Side videos and at the end you had that Mark Gonzalez like piece that gets like shattered it was kind of like a shout to like
• 27:30 - 28:00 skaters like I ain't forgot to I'm moving up but I ain't forgot you and we were like you know it's like everyone's seen that I was like oh like he you know he counted us in and they're like I knew at that point I'm like dude this guy is gonna go so much farther in just music videos and that was a big thing like Spike went from skateboarding and making music videos like no one at that point it's like we thought like that's as high as this guy's gonna go an MTV Music Video he's done it he arrived you know no one's thinking Oscars yet all right we're here with Spike Jones
• 28:00 - 28:30 the music video director he's uh he just has a few minutes today's July 29 1996. I don't want to waste too much of your time so we'll get right into it how did you get into making music videos Spike um well basically I I'm a big fan of music and I like videos uh what do you think about music videos the success was just happening pretty rapidly but I guess when you're in the moment you don't you don't really see that you're just
• 28:30 - 29:00 like oh sick he's like it's cool he's doing a bunch of stuff and he's busy but I didn't really look at the success of it it was just like it's Spike the success started to really hit when it became like feature films that's when you're like whoa okay whoa I feel like that's when it kind of sunk in we just finished uh shooting and uh on Thursday so this was the first time
• 29:00 - 29:30 that you directed a feature film yeah the people that worked on it were mostly people that uh that I knew from uh music videos and commercials the first time I met John Malkovich was in uh this really
• 29:30 - 30:00 it was cool being a kid seeing Spike's career go from skate photographer to video maker to music video to filmmaker and seeing him eventually go on and make feature films commercials Etc and that all stems back from being a skateboarder with a video camera in between doing music videos and then doing feature films I feel like you did some commercials or things that were like so maybe guns in a chair going down a hill Oh yeah I never did a straight up
• 30:00 - 30:30 like car commercial I would try to do something that like I thought was gonna be interesting or it was more like how can I do more stuff with my friends [Music] like I love making stuff with Mark so like he's so fun to film even though he's asleep for most of that commercially just fun his face is funny [Music] the end of the commercials are the only time he's got to wake up and it's the only point he has to do a lot of
• 30:30 - 31:00 actually Accu wakes up and he looks up that there's a truck in the window and I needed him to look up and kind of smile at it and like oh that's a that's a cool truck the first take he does it and he kind of like looks over at me and he's like Spike I don't want to do this anymore this is lame and and the people from the agency are completely like this guy cast his friend whose friend doesn't want to do it that's what I love about Spike the way he's always involves skaters
• 31:00 - 31:30 in anything he's done to me you know he's never forgotten where he's come from with skating [Music] I remember we were shooting at the pink motel and like Drew Barrymore's there you know it's like that life Spike lived lives it's so Hollywood but it's so not
• 31:30 - 32:00 you know like he's so cool he's so down to earth and I think that's what makes him amazing because coming from being escaped photographer he's gone way past anything anyone has done let's see Martino's part come on you gotta take your hat off going backside 360 Manny down the Rosalind Banks yeah I guess I was editing adaptation and we were doing uh doing all the skits for you right God Owen Wilson's number if I asked him if he would do this thing and I was like well you just come you
• 32:00 - 32:30 just gotta talk like as if you're a skater and he's like oh yeah cool okay and so me and Ty wrote the script and I faxed it this like free email I guess he called me back like about three hours later he's like okay I've been staring at this for three hours there's no way this is like this is like a foreign language this is like learning Shakespeare there's no way I can learn this by Tomorrow People backside 180 people show up front side people come on man it's 2003. the next week he came in and he learned that this like two pages
• 32:30 - 33:00 of what was basically gibberish to him don't forget Sylmar front salad back salad front blunt basically I got two minutes of footy but I'm not using any of it because it's already been done in 4-1-1 issue number 52. you've never even seen Escape video but he said after that like all these people came up to him and uh was like dude how do you escape [Music] yeah dude yeah right yeah okay and
• 33:00 - 33:30 everyone talking hang down and Air it Spike his hands down the coolest director [Music] the first film I did with them was yeah
• 33:30 - 34:00 right you know I was like this young kid coming on to help girl with video stuff and like I've never even really been exposed to his world and the green boards and green ramps and all that stuff and dude that day he let me go like direct a second unit with like some guys doing a manual trick while he was doing something else and that was the first time I was like dude this dude's trusting me to go do this I have no idea what I'm doing right now but I'm gonna go figure it out [Music]
• 34:00 - 34:30 [Applause] that was really rad to be around him while he was filming those intros and to see a director really direct and see a director really work like a professional well with the 75 am I getting full body or is that going to be too close you back up to your full body you know when those films came out I think it was something different within skateboarding
• 34:30 - 35:00 you know skate videos didn't really feel like that [Music] [Music]
• 35:00 - 35:30 foreign [Music] the fully flared intro definitely had a danger Factor but Spike loves a little danger Factor it kind of started out with like yeah
• 35:30 - 36:00 big you know air compressors like blowing foam oh that's no big deal and then I feel like later in the day a little more explosives kind of got integrated into some of the stuff and then Cairo was kind of the first one when he 50 50s down the hubba and it like blows up all into his face [Music] just blows them up I mean a guy's
• 36:00 - 36:30 sitting on his knees like blinded like we're like I'm not doing one I'm not doing this hey Marty can you blow it earlier like right right as he's coming down then later it's Lucas huge explosion like Lucas comes out I I can't hear [Music] Lucas got he was like bleeding out of his face today
• 36:30 - 37:00 Mike Mo is that was straight Napalm dude like you could feel the heat from that 200 feet away [Music] he did the switch flip and then they blew the stairs and I think he went deaf for a couple days so that that day was pretty pretty nuts [Music] I'll kind of push the limits and he gets out of it always
• 37:00 - 37:30 he's like a cat dude this guy has some kind of magic about him where he can do some weird and not get in trouble I remember being in Orange County and we set two spots across the street on fire you know like a busy shopping center and we're just there dumping gasoline on public property and lighting it on fire and where was Spike and he's just like yeah dude gasoline let's jump it up anyone else would have gone to jail I think he's made a career on pushing
• 37:30 - 38:00 the boundaries of what's possible in filmmaking which is awesome but in order to do that you got to keep people on their toes I mean I've seen him do so much sketchy if I grab a camera bomb the hill and just slam and obliterate a bolex spy could always take it a little further than he for the life of me I felt he had the control to handle and he wouldn't manage to make it anyway and that just says something about character
• 38:00 - 38:30 oh my God always seeking to push himself into uncomfortable places just for the sake of how does it feel like you're more alive somehow how long has it been since you all had something that big uh 10 years of all the people I've known and I know some characters no one better captures that doing things for the innocent sake of being alive no one in memory for me captures that better than Spike [Applause]
• 38:30 - 39:00 yeah that too it's not sketchy but it's so good what's next after the three flat three hour all right triple set Spike's career was taking this sort of serious turn like um he was becoming this legitimate director and they didn't realize that he was this awesome sort of troublemaker you know and we were doing big brother and doing our own thing and
• 39:00 - 39:30 we started making videos to go along with the magazine yeah just having to have them all the clever title number two I'm Johnny Knoxville United States of America [Music] and it was after we put that video out that I realized holy I think I can make a TV show out of this I don't know what the TV show is but I've got this exceptional group of that we can
• 39:30 - 40:00 make something cool out of and so I I first went and took that idea to spike he's like in our first meeting was with HBO these two women at HBO and so uh you know my I figured out like I'm just going to sit back I'm the one who's going to do I'll put it all together but Spike's going to be the one to legitimize it and sell it and so we should quickly show the tape [Music]
• 40:00 - 40:30 and then when it comes time to talk about spikes it's like uh uh uh yeah that it was really awkward and um the meeting started so nice and then after the tape it was just like they couldn't get us out of the room fast enough and then the next one though was MTV and the exact opposite reaction we didn't let Spike talk anymore now we're like I would just agent talks natural talks sell that damn thing
• 40:30 - 41:00 [Music] we had no idea that it was going to become what it became we really just thought we were making an Escape video that we're you know we're getting paid to put on TV it's such a crazy artist ahead of his time that sometimes I think like movies like adaptation and
• 41:00 - 41:30 Being John Malkovich they're just like really pieces of Art and you got to have like a really open mind to watch something like that and the funny thing is is that movies like jackass or getting the guy kicked in the nuts have just been his Blockbuster all-time most highest rated things and it's like I just find that funny because he does these beautiful art pieces and everyone's like we like they gotta get kicked in the Nets look at the stains on Pontius and I think that Spike likes that too because Spike probably deals in like Hollywood he's got all his executive and
• 41:30 - 42:00 suits and this and that and it's just really stressful and hard to get something made with restrictions and all this stuff he's just like this goes out with Tremaine and his old boys like Freestyle stuff and just like do a gorilla style and just made tons of money and it's just like a key to the studios like you know listen to me I know what I'm doing there we go the thing that's cool about spike is that it doesn't matter if he's directing like a 50 million dollar feature or like a zero dollar feature
• 42:00 - 42:30 he's still gonna go out and approach it the same way [Applause] [Music] I think once you get to that level of dealing with multi-million dollar projects you want to have some time off you want to get back to your roots and I think that's what like his skate projects were this is like what he does for fun during the times that while the Wild Things Are like he came out onto a lakai
• 42:30 - 43:00 skate trip with us and I was nervous to see Spike I didn't know his bike was a big producer Spike now he could be some like arrogant just like Hollywood prick you know and come to find out Spike didn't change a bit how's this feeling scary and I should you know Spike skated more on that trip than most of the pros I think spike is you know next to Tony
• 43:00 - 43:30 Hawk probably our most proudest success story of the skate Community like you couldn't ask for a better person to represent skating outside of skating he has this young Spirit to him that's Fearless that's fun and that goes back to video days man grabbing a camera going out having fun with your friends [Applause] [Music]
• 43:30 - 44:00 I think skateboarding skateboarding is like part of me it's like it shaped me it like made it's why I'm here I got into photography Through Skateboarding I got into making videos Through Skateboarding in skating especially in in the 80s when I was in high school not only did nobody give a about skating people aggressively hated you for it so like we
• 44:00 - 44:30 weren't making stuff for anyone's approval but our own I guess I look at it as did I make something that gives me a feeling like did I make something like I can watch Mark Gonzalez's part in The Blind video and it's I'm going to credit Mark mostly I'm just sort of lucky to be behind him on a skateboard with a camera but that thing just gives me a feeling
• 44:30 - 45:00 to this day you know that's what you're always kind of searching for is like that buzz that like thing that gives you that that feeling that's like makes you stoked to skateboard or stoked to have your friends or stoked to be alive [Music] [Music]
• 45:00 - 45:30 thank you foreign