How to describe Machotaildrop? Magic realism? Surreal kids film? Cautionary juvenile delinquent fantasy? Werewolf fetishism? It’s all of these things and more. Carrying on where his short films Of Wolf and Limb and Harvey Spannos left off , writer-director Corey Adams (who co-wrote with Alex Craig) went full-concept with this strange genre hybrid whose name is derived from a quote by 80s skater Neil Blender in a 1990 G+S Video. Blender was purportedly one of the first outspoken anti-pro skaters, and coined the term to refer facetiously to falling on your ass in front of girls when trying to impress them with one’s skateboarding panache (you can see the original footage HERE – where he also happens to be wearing a werewolf T-shirt).

The story concerns a young aspiring skateboarder named Walter Rhum, who submits his demo tape to the Machotaildrop skateboard company and is snapped up to be their new star. He is whisked away to a fantastical compound that is only one step removed from that of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and despite the luxuries bestowed upon him, he sees firsthand the frightening fate of skateboarders past their prime (i.e. over 30). Meanwhile, further out in the woods is an abandoned amusement park overrun with feral independent skateboarders called the Man-Wolfs, who pose a threat to the Machotaildrop philosophy.

There are literally hundreds of skateboard films out there, but this ain’t Skateboard Kings or Barbarians at the Gate (or even Gleaming the Cube). Machotaildrop takes the skateboard film to a whole new level, removing it from its natural concrete habitat and placing it in a physical and emotional wilderness (The only thing close to this is maybe pro-skater Mike McKinlay’s burgeoning career in nature videography). It’s unfamiliar terrain, and a great setting for a cautionary tale about staying true to one’s vision – as well as a great excuse for acting turns and cameos by the likes of pro skaters Rick McCrank (who also stars in Harvey Spannos as the same character, ten years earlier), Steve Olson, John Rattray and more.

Corey Adams was kind enough to speak with us about creating the one-of-a-kind universe of Machotaildrop, its unexpected roster of cinematic influences and the real wolf pack that inspired the gang in the film.

———

This film was funded as the result of a filmmaking contest. I’m sure you’ve answered this question a hundred times before, but can you describe the process?

CA-In 2005, inspired by Bruce Brown, a TV channel devoted to adrenalin charged young men called FUELTV, decided they would hold a contest and give ten filmmakers a hundred grand each to make a film. They would then choose one of those films and give them a million dollar budget to make a feature film. The only guidelines was that it had to be action sports related. So we made a film called Harvey Spannos as one of the ten. With this film we thought we had no chance of winning, as it was a more sensitive look at skateboarding. It also didn’t really have much skateboarding in it either. But somehow they liked it and we stormed of with the million. A few years later and Machotaildrop was the result.

Was Machotaildrop something you had already begun scripting prior to the contest?

CA-Not at all, as stated above we had no intentions of winning. Or of making another film about skateboarding. But when a million dollar bill is waved in your face you will do almost anything. So me and some friends went to the woods in a town called Hope B.C, and camped out. there we conjured the ideas that would become the script.

Who was your intended audience for this film? It’s so full of skater in-jokes, but tonally it’s as far from a skate film as I can imagine, it’s not trying to be tough at all – so it’s a totally strange hybrid. How has the response been from within the skate community?

I think our audience was ourselves. We just were trying to do something we would want to watch. But we definitely wanted others to enjoy it also. Skateboarders or non-skateboarders. Even in-line skaters. The film was made for all people involved in the world of sporting and non sporting. We weren’t excluding anyone. The response from the community has been quite good. Some companies will even be putting out Machotaildrop related products coming this fall.

People have pointed out Thrashin and Willy Wonka references but I see just as many nods to films like Suspiria or Mad Foxes – if you had to list five films that were an influence on Machotaildrop, what would they be?

Thrashin and Willy Wonka were not really major influences, but they definitely get mentioned a lot. If I had to list five I would say.

1.A Zed and Two Naughts
2.The Werckmeister Harmonies
3. Salo: 120 Days of Sodom
4.The Holy Mountain
5.Top Gun

The film also presents a pretty negative take on pro sponsorship, which is something addressed in a lot of skate films. Do you think the dangers of pro sponsorship are really as grave as those presented in the film?

CA- There is nothing wrong with pro sponsorship. The film kind of has a harsh view about it, but that was just one angle. I think it’s great that people can make a living of doing something they love. There are also many wonderful skateboard companies that treat their riders well. But I just think that there are also a lot of companies, skateboarding-related and non-skateboarding-related, that just use and abuse the people who make them what they are.

What is Rick McCrank’s relationship to his character Blair Stanley in terms of mirroring injuries? Is this a fate that really haunts professional skateboarders?

CA-Almost all the people I know that are sponsored skateboarders have had one or more knee surgeries. It’s just common place now. I think Blair and Rick probably share a very similar medical record.

How did the gang of the Man-Wolfs evolve from the real Wolf Pack in Vancouver? Can you talk a bit about the Wolf Pack for those that won’t be familiar with them?

CA- I can’t believe you know that! The Man-Wolfs were spawned from that pack. It all started in about 2001 maybe when a lot of us were going on motorcycle trips. We were travelling through the interior of B.C ., and stopped at a make-shift swap meet in some old barn. There we found a bunch of stickers that said Wolf Pack, I think it was some type of Cub Scout thing, and so we all got a sticker and that became the name of our gang. [editor's note: original Wolf Pack members included Quinn Starr, Keegan Sauder , and photographer Dylan Doubt, among others]

Your earlier short film Of Wolf and Limb was also preoccupied with this wolf/skate combo. Where does this obsession come from?

CA-That all started in about 1991 when a friend of ours found the wolf-like head piece at the thrift store. After he stole it we drove around and he perched his head out the window howling at all the people on the street. We then found more of the head pieces in a different variety of colors and styles. One of the first films I made was called Werewolves on Wheels, which me and the leader of the Wolf Pack, Jon J Mackie, did together. We stole the name from the original film, which is a great film if you haven’t seen it. It was shot with a fisher price PXL camera that was hooked to the TV so we could only shoot in one room.

You were a special Makeup artist with Flesh and Fantasy in Vancouver prior to your directing career – were you tempted at any point to throw in any makeup gags into the film?

CA-Actually the large nose on the old Frank character was a prosthetic. So I guess we did.

Much of the film was shot in Hungary – I read somewhere that your love of Bela Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies was behind that decision? What was it that struck you so deeply about Tarr’s film?

CA-The Werckmeister Harmonies is one of the most beautiful films ever made. It brings a tear to my eye overtime I watch it. Just the way the shots are, those long slow shots of mundane moments but with the music and the choreography it turns into something bigger than just a film. It’s some type of other experience.

The logo for the Man-Wolfs – It was driving me crazy trying to figure out where I’d seen this image before, and I realized I have an old puffy sticker of this image in my sticker book from when I was a kid! Did you have to actually track down the source of the image and secure rights to it?

CA-It was taken from a sticker that Robert Dayton gave me a few years ago. It was the ideal image for the Manwolfs. Much tracking was done to seal the deal on that one.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.