"Lots of fun for its target audience; skaters both old school and new, and high schoolers." John Venable SUPERCALA.COM "Catherine Hardwicke's Lords of Dogtown works as both an energetic thrill ride and a keenly-felt drama about boys gone wild." Kevin Williamson JAM! MOVIES "A celebratory experience, paying homage to those who, out of a lack of anything better to do, created an outright phenomenon." Randy Shulman METRO WEEKLY WASHINGTON DC "Ledger exudes an impetuousness that’s in keeping with Lords of Dogtown’s infectious, devil-may-care swagger" Nicholas Schager FILMCRITIC.COM "The young cast shines, especially Hirsch." Michael Senft ARIZONA REPUBLIC

"This dramatization does nothing Peralta's documentary didn't do better. And why opt for the imitation when the real deal is still out there for the viewing?" Ken Fox TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE "If you really want to know what's what, check out Peralta's own doc, Dogtown and Z-Boys, which dishes the real deal in adrenaline-pushing detail." Bret McCabe, ORLANDO WEEKLY "No skater needs to be told to see Lords; no non-skater should waste his time when Z-Boys is so readily available on DVD and video." Jeremy C Fox PAJIBA "Peralta has actually told this tale once before, and done a better job, as the director of the 2001 documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys." Kyle Smith NEW YORK POST "I walked out of Dogtown almost bouncing...it's a rush, a kinetic spectacle that puts you right back into your own 16 year old shoes..." Devin Faraci CHUD

The Inside Story

"If you’ve seen the award-winning documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys and dug it, you’ll probably really like this." Jon Popick PLANET SICK-BOY

One thing that stands out in my mind is the impact skateboarding had on my life as a young surfer during the 1960's. As far as surfboard riding went I was fine, in fact, surfing was so good I was hooked for over thirty years. I competed both here in South Australia, lived and surfed in four states, surfed overseas, was the first person to promote a fully professional surfing competition, even published a surf magazine called "Four Point Surf Scene" and fortunately never fell into the category of being labelled a 'surfie'. To me, surfing was all consuming and in those early days very, very exciting. Then a friend of mine got hold of a skateboard. It was shaped like a surfboard, had a couple of pin-stripes and was made of timber. After a couple of tentative attempts at riding it on a slope at the local services station I made the decision to buy one and give it a good crack. Crack is a word that described my adventures on a skateboard. While I had a very good reputation as a surfer, skateboarding was terribly unkind to me. Not nearly as unkind to me as my pathetic attemtp at roller skating in the 1980's would prove, but that's another story for another time. A couple of hard falls off my skateboard didn't help me build any great enthusiasm for this 'new found' sport. What little I did have was soon vanquished when a mate broke his arm and I later twisted my ankle badly just as a new swell rolled in over the reefs of the mid-coast. My mother, god bless her, always said I was accident prone and this one somehow seemed to prove her right. I decided surfing waves was more important than riding a piece of timber with four wheels that on too many occassions, seemed to be possessed with a mind of its own. Those days were the crude days for the sport of skateboarding and it would be another fourteen years before the sport was changed radically with the introduction of polyurethane wheels. By that time I was living in New South Wales and riding the biggest waves I could find at places like 'The Bone Yard', King Island, Green Island, Yamba, Sandown Point and making trips back home to surf 'Cactus', Caves and Point Bell. While I may have left skateboarding behind, I have always has a healthy respect for those who mastered this piece of sporting equipment. I also have great admiration for anyone who [in their chosen sport] becomes a bench mark for others in a given sport. That admiration and memories of the fledging skateboard era was revived three years ago when I was invited to a media screening for a film called "Dogtown and the Z-Boys". For me and many others it was like stepping back in time to an era when we were extremely fit, dedicated young surfers. The film featured the elders from that era telling their tales of a bygone era which gave birth to modern skateboarding. It was an awesome film. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you get it on DVD. Now one of those founding fathers, Stacy Peralta [who directed Z-Boys and co-wrote the screenplay with fellow Zephyr co-founder Craig Stecyk] has written the screenplay for a new version of that era, "Lords Of Dogtown" only this time, the focus is clearly on the skateboarders, in particular Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams. It's a vastly different look at the era. "What we didn't realize was that the little wheels under our feet were going to take us on a ride through life that none of us expected," says Stacy Peralta who's groundbreaking documentary "Dogtown and the Z-Boys" picked up the Audience and Director's Awards for documentary film at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as Best Documentary at the AFI Film Festival, and an Independent Spirit Award. It wasn't long after the Sundance Film Festival that Peralta started working on a new screenplay about the era. "I started writing the film shortly after we introduced the documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in the Spring of 2001," says Peralta. "I had written five screenplays prior to writing "Lords Of Dogtown" and it was without a doubt the most difficult, mental, ambitious thing I've ever done in my life. When it really got tough, I l ocked myself in my house for two weeks and didn't so much as answer the phone until I had something." If Peralta had something, then why didn't her direct this film? "I knew Catherine Hardwicke from years back," he says. "We had studied acting together in the eighties and would run into each other often over the years. I saw [her directorial debut] Thirteen and it just blew my mind. I called John Linson and said, 'You must see this movie because Catherine Hardwicke is the perfect director for us.' He took a look at it and called me back to tell me she was perfect. He said the opening scene was one of the most devastating scenes he had ever seen on film. So we contacted Catherine." Linson notes, "I don't think anybody could have directed this movie besides Catherine. She has an affinity for these kids, and for the moment as well as the movement. She cares about who these people are." Hardwicke just happens to live in Venice Beach. "This movie is a dream project for me," says Hardwicke. "I live in Venice, I surf and I know so many of the people involved in this, so I was just so excited to get that call. I read the script Stacy wrote, went in to meet Amy Pascal at Sony, and gave her my pitch. After a few months of research and preparation, they green-lit the film." One thing was a high priority for the production team was authenticity so "a decision to employ as many original members to work as both skating and technical consultants in their efforts to remain true to the story and the tone of the times." One of those original team members was Tony Alva who took on the job of teaching the young actors how to skate with the same style as the original Z-Boys. "It was the greatest thing having Tony from the very beginning, helping us scout locations, find pools, train all the skaters," says director "Catherine Hardwicke". "He remembered everything he did in those days. You can ask, 'How would you skate up to a girl if you wanted to impress her?' And Tony will do this cool little move, just fluid and great. He and Stacy and Jay have it in their bones." Getting Tony Alva onboard may have been a steal but finding the right person to play Tony [who Jay Adams once described as "the first pool ruler and one of the most stylish skaters of all time."] was the teams big challenge, until associate Producer Beanie Barnes suggested Victor Rasuk. Hardwicke had seen Rasuk at Sundance appearing in "Raising Victor Vargas". Hardwicke called Rusak and asked him to fly down from New York. Once in town, she set about losing his New York image. "I took him around with a bunch of Venice guys to get him into the Venice 'hood / California thing. We got rid of all of his clothes instantly and put him in Vans and beach clothes. We had him skating with Tony on day one. So immediately he just dove into this world, learning how to skate and surf. It was completely foreign to him, but he caught on fast." When it came to finding the right person to play Stacy Peralta, Beanie Barnes came through again. He suggested actor John Robinson. Hardwicke's prayers were answered when Robinson flew down from Oregon and "he just blew us away". Peralta was impressed, noting "He was perfect." When it came to finding their Jay Adams, Emile Hirsch wore the role like a glove. Hirsh travelled to Hawaii and hung out with Adams. "I watched him and talked to him about his life and really picked up a lot of stories and nuances about the guy." Couples to the performance of Australia's Heath Ledger as Skip Engblom, the young cast members instil a feeling of living the era. Those who didn't live in that era will soon pick it up on it. Time may move on, people may come and go, champions rise and fall, but the guys from Dogtown who went on to change the face of skateboarding will live for ever in film. Crew Bytes "LORDS OF DOGTOWN" was .......
directed by Catherine Hardwicke ["Thirteen"]; screenplay by Stacy Peralta ["Dogtown and Z-Boys" and "Riding Giants"]; costume design by Cindy Evans ["Memento", "Laurel Canyon", "Thirteen" and "Along Came Polly"]; production design by Chris Gorak ["Sub Down", "The Clearing" and "Blade: trinity"]; edited by Nancy Richardson ["Stand and Deliver", "Money For Nothing", "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" and "Thirteen"]; cinematography by Elliot Davis ["Independence Day", "Gray's Anatomy", "Finding Graceland", "I Am Sam" and "White Oleander"]; original music by Mark Mothersbaugh ["The Royal Tenenbaums", "Thirteen", "Good Boy!", "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "Herbie: Fully Loaded"] produced by John Linson ["Great Expectations" and "Sunset Strip"]. Casting About "LORDS OF DOGTOWN" stars .......
Heath Ledger ["The Patriot", "A Knight's Tale", "Monster's Ball" and "Ned Kelly"]; John Robinson ["Elephant" and "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things"]; Rebecca De Mornay ["Dealers", "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", "The Three Musketeers", "Raise Your Voice" and "Wedding Crashers"]; Nikki Reed ["Thirteen" and "Man Of God"]; William Mapother ["Born on the Fourth of July", "Mission: Impossible II", "Almost Famous" and "In the Bedroom"]; Michael Angarano ["Almost Famous", "Little Secrets", "Seabiscuit" and "Sky High"]; Pablo Schreiber ["Bubble Boy", "The Mudge Boy", "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Invitation to a Suicide"]; Elden Henson ["Turner & Hooch", "Cast Away", "Under The Tuscan Sun" and "The Butterfly Effect"]; Julio Oscar Mechoso ["Internal Affairs", "Bad Boys", "Phone Booth" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico"]; Melonie Diaz ["Double Whammy" and "Raising Victor Vargas"] and Victor Rasuk ["Five Feet High and Rising", "Raising Victor Vargas", "Rock Steady" and "Haven"] as Tony Alva. What It's All About

"The young performers supply the necessary physicality and charisma, with Hirsch particularly effective as the sensitive Adams." .... Frank Scheck HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

In the latter half of the 1970's the sport of skateboarding underwent a radical change when a shipment of polyurethane wheels arrived at Venice Beach's Zephyr Surf Shop. It wasn't long before the shops co-founder Skip Engblom had the new wheels fitted to some of the local surfers skateboards. It unleashed a new force as the guys did things never ever imagined. Engblom then created the Zephyr Skateboard Team, entered them in their first skate competition and the rest is history. It was the start of a new generation of totally radical skateboarding as the Zephyr guys used any thing at their disposal to perfect their craft. In the grips of a drought, the empty backyard swimming pools became the team members playgrounds. Mastering the steep walls they took skateboarding to levels unrivalled. Suddenly Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams were celebrities and everyone wanted a piece of the action. Loyalties and frienships were tested as the offers came in. With fame and fortune beckoning, cracks started to appear in the Zephyr Team. The Verdict "If you grew up around the skateboard surfing era then "Lords Of Dogtown" will bring back a flood of heady, nostalgic memories. Surprisingly Heath Ledger is extremely good in this some-what sanitized version which follows "Dogtown and the Z-Boys" as Skip Engblom who through his surfshop created the Zephyr Skate Team. It's history now, but history well worth re-visiting. Worth a look at." The Cast

Heath Ledger John Robinson Victor Rasuk Emile Hirsch Rebecca De Mornay William Mapother Julio Oscar Mechoso Nikki Reed Vincent Laresca Brian Zarate Pablo Schreiber Elden Henson Michael Angarano Benjamin Nurick Stephanie Limb Mike Ogas Cheyne Magnusson Don Nguyen Kristian Peterson Melonie Diaz Mark Kubr René Rivera Chad Fernandez Jim 'Red Dog' Muir Chris Chaput Matt Malloy Jack Smith Steve Badillo Bill Cusack Kirk Ward Eddie Cahill Laura Ramsey

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Skip Engblom Stacy Peralta Tony Alva Jay Adams Philaine Donnie Mr Alva Kathy Alva Chino Montoya Stecyk Billy Z Sid Browser Peggy Oki Bob Biniak Jim 'Red Dog' Muir Shogo Wentzle Ruml Blanca Donnie's Friend Mr Peralta Reef Ryan Security Guard Russ Howell Contest Official Del Mar Announcer Ty Page Del Mar Judge Bill Bahne Larry Gordon Gabrielle

The Crew Directed by Catherine Hardwicke Writing credits Stacy Peralta Produced by John Linson Original Music by Mark Mothersbaugh Cinematography by Elliot Davis Film Editing by Nancy Richardson Casting by Victoria Thomas Production Design by Chris Gorak Art Direction by Seth Reed Set Decoration by Gene Serdena Costume Design by Cindy Evans Unit Production Manager Michelle Morrissey Run Time 107 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - Sony Pictures Entertainment - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved