FILM 1279: LORDS OF DOGTOWN
TRIVIA: While filming a scene in an
empty pool, director Catherine
Hardwicke fell and was knocked unconscious for two minutes. Many of
the cast and crew thought she had died. When she came to, the pro-skaters there
said "Now you know how it feels. Welcome to the club."
Heath Ledger wore some of Skip Engblom's old clothes.
Skip's wife had saved them and they lent them to Ledger to help him get into
character.
To prepare for his role as young
Jay Adams, Emile Hirsch
flew to Hawaii to spend time with Jay Adams
who had just been released from jail for assault and drug charges and had just
gotten married.
Emile Hirsch already had
some experience as a street skater from Southern California prior to appearing
in this film.
Many parts of the dilapidated pier
set (e.g. the big dipper) were added using CGI to keep costs down. However, the
derelict ferris wheel was real and had been purchased on eBay for a few
thousand dollars.
During the scenes of Alva and
Peralta traveling, the Astronaut who asks to try to ride the skateboard is
skateboarding legend Tony Hawk.
Originally David Fincher and the
other producers hired Fincher "protege" Fred Durst to direct
"Dogtown," with Fincher helping out with the second unit
skateboarding scenes. As Durst's participation came into doubt, Fincher then
became the director, even going as far as having sets built, doing extensive
pre-visualizations for the feature and hiring Roger Avary to rewrite the
script. Fincher then left to take on another feature, paving the way for former
Production Designer Catherine
Hardwicke to sign on based on the success of her first feature Thirteen (2003).
