To combat the growing contingent of people who have trouble recognising him in person, the Duplass brothers have produced another feature-length documentary about Tony Hawk, directed by tour de force photographer turned filmmaker Sam Jones (Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco) – which has been acquired by HBO.
Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off explores the life, times, and historic career of the 53-year-old innovator, who paved the way for an entire culture (as well as what is now an official Olympic sport). While further details have yet to be revealed, we can probably expect stories like the time Activision called him in for a meeting and slid a $4 million cheque across the desk ahead of the Pro Skater 4 release.
“We’ve been quietly working on this one for a few years,” reveals Mark Duplass; producing via the Duplass Brothers Productions alongside Mel Eslyn.
“We are floored with the unmitigated access Tony has allowed us to his life and his fascinating relationship to the sport.”
“We have already shot everything for it, it’s just in the editing process,” Tony Hawk himself noted a few months prior.
“I definitely wanted to give them as much footage and interview as possible.”
Hawk has previously been examined by Jones on camera, albeit in a slightly different format. The former was interviewed on the latter’s series, Off Camera with Sam Jones.
“I’ve been enamoured and fascinated with Tony Hawk ever since 1983 when I saw him at the skatepark,” says Sam Jones.
“To get to know him as a human being has been the great journey of this film, and to share my love of skating in this way is the culmination of my creative endeavours.”
In addition to an interview with Tony Hawk, the upcoming documentary also includes one-on-one time with other prominent skateboarding figures such as Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Neil Blender, Andy MacDonald, Duane Peters, Sean Mortimer, and Christian Hosoi.
The brand new Tony Hawk documentary is scheduled to premiere at SXSW on March 12th of 2022 before arriving at HBO on April 5th of 2022. And given how Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off falls under the HBO banner, we can expect it to hit domestic equivalent Binge around the same time.
