Epicly Later'd (2011–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Spike Jonze - full transcript
Influential filmmaker, Spike Jonze, looks back on his career and discusses how skateboarding influenced his work from groundbreaking music videos to Jackass to an Academy Award.
[ Rolling surf,
seagulls calling ]
- Whoo!
- What do you think, Meza?
How did we do?
- That was great.
- That was a lot of pressure.
It was a good morning.
Ready to start the day.
- Aah!
- I'm so sorry!
[ Laughs ]
Look at that!
This is mandatory.
This guy.
Meza. [ Minutemen's "Nature
Without Man" plays ]
I couldn't help it!
[ People cheering ]
Mike D: Those skate videos
that Spike did, like,
they spoke to us in a a way
like no other skate videos.
He kind of brought skateboarding
back to the people, in a sense.
Pow!
* The boundary, the border
* Of right and wrong
* The tariff is self
* The freedom of feeling
Hi, we're hear with Spike Jonze,
the music video director.
That's, like, pretty crazy to be
in my kitchen in Torrance,
and there's a message
from Kim Gordon.
Mariano: Spike went from
skateboarding to 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.
**
- Ohh!
- Ohh!
Evans: Every skateboarder
in the world was like,
"Holy shit. This dude's getting
an Academy Award right now.
He's a skater."
Jonze: [ Laughs ]
What's up? Welcome back
to "Epicly Later'd."
I'm really excited
about this episode.
It's with Spike Jonze,
who was a huge influence on me.
I loved his photography.
I'm a little nervous,
'cause this dude just in skate
is somewhat of a deity.
I mean, he did all these
amazing photos for TransWorld.
I'd say he's my favorite
skate photographer.
He made amazing videos like
"Video Days," "Rubba Sheep."
Went on to do really
cool music videos, films.
And one thing I really
liked about him
is that he still
seems skate to me
even though he's
done everything --
Academy Award.
I've seen him skate.
He's a good skater.
And anyway, we're gonna
creep up on him.
He's eating breakfast over
here at this restaurant.
We're gonna pick him up.
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.
Oh! Dude!
I was thinking,
"Who is that?"
[ Laughs ]
You really didn't know?
I thought it was the guy
who owned this crane.
And he's pissed at you?
That intro better
have been good,
'cause I'm not doing it
again with him listening.
O'Dell: I guess if we just
start chronologically,
you grew up in Maryland.
We're gonna go all the way
back there?
Just -- just -- I just
wanna get, like,
a little general gist
of where you're from.
Man, I'm trying to --
'Cause we'll be here for all day
if I go back, like, if I just...
You can do it, uh,
broad strokes.
The, um...
Yeah. I grew up in D.C.
and knew Jeff,
and, you know...
Um...
Walt Whitman High School,
class of 8--
Well, I was class of '85.
Look at that hot dude.
And that's 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.
Spike somehow, before I knew
him, got a job there.
So he was 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, 8.
[ Laughing ] I mean,
look how little he looked!
Like, he got his nickname,
"Spike," at the bike shop.
Like, you know, he was
Adam Spiegel to me until Jay,
the guy who ran Rockville BMX,
started calling him Spike.
I would work there
in the summertimes,
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.
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 shit with them.
And they loved Spike,
and they kidnapped Spike
and took him
on the road with them.
That's where he met
Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman.
And they were running
"Freestylin'" Magazine.
Bye.
Thanks for coming.
He left for California within
a week or two of graduating.
He might not even have gone
to his graduation.
When it came to
hiring a new guy,
I needed a new guy
at the magazine.
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 he was funny.
Oh, dude!
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.
[ Shutter clicking ]
So eventually, he moved
over to pretty much
being the photographer
for the magazine.
Announcer: You know him,
you love him, Spike Jonze!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Freestylin's
wizard with a camera!
Hoffman: Spike is the definition
of freestyle.
I mean, you just never
really know what to expect
or, like, what version
of Spike is surfacing.
And he just has this creative
energy that just blows up
and you either get out
of the way or you just hold on,
and it can bring you anywhere.
I just wanna skate down
the street, do an ollie,
and slap the hair off his head!
I think just seeing the world
a different way
and just seeing it as, like,
a -- as a playground
and trying to find places that
are less travelled to play in
is kind of how Spike's looked
at everything in his life,
whether it was riding his
skateboard or riding his bike.
**
Whoo-hoo!
We were all skating anyway,
and you know, we developed
more and more
of an interest at 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,
become tight friends with them
'cause that's what
he does to everyone.
So then, we got sucked
into that --
that industry,
I guess you could say.
**
Jonze: All 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, take a lot of bad photos,
like, take endlessly bad photos
until I was like,
"Oh, that one worked,"
and trying to figure out
why it worked.
And eventually, I started
shooting for TransWorld.
Jefferson: He was great at
mixing raw with polished.
As a kid, I would just 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.
Jonze: You're always trying to
capture a trick the way,
like, in it's best form.
Like Jason Lee, like, I remember
shooting some photo of him
and just thinking about
the right angle
where, like, you know
he's gonna point his nose
in a certain way right
about halfway through.
And if you're two feet over,
the trick's gonna look
totally different.
The fist time
I actually ever met Spike
is the time I shot my first
Blind ad,
backside nosegrind
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." I'm like,
"Where'd you get the camera?
Is it your mom's or something?"
You know what I mean?
And he's like, "No,
I'm a photographer. I shoot."
Spike felt like me,
looked like me, talked like me.
And he has a real gift
with, like,
taking people
out of their element,
making them feel comfortable,
and just being a real person
before a photographer.
His photos went to TransWorld,
but he worked
at World Industries.
So he shot Gonz.
He shot Jason Lee.
He shot Ron Chatman.
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 was my childhood
right there -- Spike's photos.
**
I mean, the first real guys
I skated with a lot
in terms of --
and photographed a lot were,
like, right when World started,
'cause Rocco was also
in Torrance.
World was only, like,
four people at the time.
So he's like, "Hey, you
wanna 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, we can't do that?"
Yeah, we can.
It was just a wild thing
going on over 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.
Jefferson:
I mean, it was World.
Like, World dominated
what was cool in skating then.
And Spike was right there.
Jonze: That's how I went
from photos to video.
It was like
I was shooting his ads
and we were out skating one day,
and I asked him
if he was gonna do
a skate video.
And he's like,
"Yeah, I wanna do one.
I just don't have time to
shoot it. Do you wanna 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's like, "Yeah, okay."
And he's just right there,
and, like, I think we were,
like, at some spot,
and he gave me
the company credit card.
And he said, "Go find --
Yeah, go buy a camera
and editing --
and some editing stuff."
**
It was like the brats took over,
had their own
skateboard company.
* 7:00, gotta get up
* Alarm clock,
mom yelling at 7:00 *
* See her downstairs,
it's time for a shower *
* Went to the school bus stop
* Waited at the bus stop
with my friends *
Aah!
* Only had one, sorry
This is Jeremy Klein,
professional beast of his class.
[ Laughter ]
Jonze:
It was just like anything went.
Seriously, gonna lose
our jobs here.
That's what happens when
you give a bunch of, like,
18-year-old kids
the keys to the whatever --
some metaphor for the kingdom.
[ High-pitched ] Hey!
Brought the plumber
over here to fix
your shit now with
your fucking pipes!
For real.
- This is a worm.
- [ Laughs ] That's so thick.
Ugh!
[ Laughter ]
Woman: Come on.
Oh, not chew it up.
- Okay, come on out here, then.
- You're going down, Mark.
[ Laughter ]
Ow!
Aah!
- That's cool.
- The Blind video's in there?
Yeah. But I don't know
where the master is.
Might've left it at
the dubbing house, probably.
We weren't really paying
that much attention.
That's my claim
to fame right there.
Well, his impact on
skateboarding is enormous
'cause I think it feels to me
like 9 skaters out of 10
say their favorite skate video
in 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, edit,
you know, and so on and so on.
Not many people were just
pushing around with a 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.
The little nuances,
the things that, like,
a skate nerd like me
would geek out on.
Carnie: "Video Days" was just,
you know, raw.
He kind of brought skateboarding
back to the people, in a sense.
"Video Days" was just this --
the reality of how
skateboarding was --
a bunch of dumb fucking kids
riding around in a car
drinking 40-ouncers.
Like, that's why
it was so impactful.
It was because it was
actually skateboarding.
O'Dell: 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've
articulated it,
but I -- like this.
But I think what I was doing
was I just wanted to make
a video that felt like
hanging out with Mark.
- Okay, come on out here, then.
- You're going down, Mark.
Gonzales: Okay, good.
[ Laughter ]
It was kind of, like,
never explained
'cause 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,
like you don't quite
explain anything.
Lean forward and look
at the mirror.
Lean close to the mirror.
**
**
He just had endless ideas.
He's like,
"I've got a new trick.
It's like you slide on your nose
on top of the curb."
I was like, "What?"
And we at 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
noseblunt slide on the red curb.
I was like,
"That is ridiculous."
And I was like -- I could never
imagine him getting out of it.
It didn't seem like
it was possible
'cause you'd never
seen it before.
And in his mind,
anything was possible.
And we went up to this
high school in Santa Monica.
It had that kinked rail.
And again, he was like --
We're parked outside,
and we stop.
And he said, "I wanna
do that rail."
And we're all looking
at it like,
"But it's got a bend in it.
It's got a huge,
like, kink in it.
You can't do that."
And he's like, "No, I think
I could if I just, like,
leaned back I could just, like,
board-side through it."
And we're all like,
"What? Is this possible?"
**
And I think it was the third
try, he lands and rolls away.
And we're like, "Holy shit!"
And we're like -- For the rest
of the day we're like,
"Now we don't even
need to do anything."
Like, "We got that?
That's crazy."
And then he just kept going.
**
**
So 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,
and his part was done.
- Yeah!
- Watch that truck! [ Laughs ]
* You're like a crazy person
walking around *
Mark Gonzales and Spike Jonze
were a funny combo together.
- Okay, start recording.
- Come over.
Let me use one
of my foot techniques.
- [ Laughs ]
- Okay, come over.
Mariano: They were
kind of like two kids,
like, beefing with each other,
like --
And I know they would, like,
wrestle and fight.
And it'd kind of,
like, get serious.
- Pow!
- Ugh!
Oh! Oof!
And I think that Spike
working with Mike Gonzales
from such a young age...
Okay, Mike.
You got that one.
- Enough!
- ...it made him to be able
to adapt and to work
with anybody,
any artist,
anything in the world
'cause Mark Gonzales is just,
like, a million people.
[ Speaking Spanish ]
I've been sober for
about five months now.
I just -- I quit told --
cold turkey.
[ Speaking Spanish ]
I don't smoke anymore, either.
I just keep 'em behind
my ear for good luck.
* Ooh, ooh
**
Aah!
Jonze: Yeah, Mark!
[ Indistinct ]
At one point, Mark goes,
"You know, I wanna go get
some clips in Mexico."
We go to Mexico.
We go to the skate park,
and then we start driving
up in these mountains.
And Mark's like, "I wanna
fucking drive the car
off a cliff."
I was just total, like,
you know, just, like,
Spike and Mark just crazy
guerrilla-style freestyling it.
You gotta go faster, though.
Car in 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 it.
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.
Okay.
That was rad, Mark.
We pulled it off.
**
O'Dell: So your mom
thought you really died?
Thought they died.
You know, she called me up.
I sent her the video
and she's like,
"That's so sad. They all..."
You know?
"How are their parents?"
[ Laughs ] I'm like, "No, Mom.
They didn't die."
**
When we finished 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 into a bus.
And he's like, "Hey, you guys!
We made a skate video."
And he gave them the video,
the VHS copy of the video.
That's basically how I got
into music videos,
is that Kim Gordon called me,
saw that video and was like,
"Hey, we're making
this music video.
We wanna have
skateboarding in it.
Will you come shoot it?"
**
* I can never forget you
* The way you rock the girls
Kim and I and Thurston watched
that video where the kids
are in the car and the video
is they just drive it
off the cliff.
[Laughs] And I was like,
I thought it was brilliant.
And I found out that this kid,
Spike Jonze, was behind it.
So that's when I contacted him
and started to talk to him
about being in the video.
Jonze: Tamra was
directing the video.
She said, "Come hang out
as much as you want."
I was like, "Okay."
And so I hung out every day.
It 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 16mm camera
for the first time.
He'd never really done it
in a professional way like that,
like real cameras,
like a real video.
And we're just about to shoot,
and he stops.
And he pulls me over,
and he's like,
"I've never done this before."
And there's, like,
an entire crew.
And I just looked back
at him and I was like,
"Nobody knows that."
[ Chuckles ]
**
Jonze: Thurston, when I met him,
he told me that
they liked that video a lot
because it felt voyeuristic.
I was like,
"Okay, cool. Thank you.
But -- what's 'voyeuristic'
mean?"
[ Laughs ]
**
- Should we go walk around?
- Yeah. This is your photo?
This is actually
behind our house in --
This is Sonic Youth.
The first frame,
I shot the whole thing.
And then I went in
and shot six in a row
and then six in a row
and then six in a row.
There's times in your life that,
like, your life is changed.
You know? And it's like
Andy and Lew hiring me
at the magazine when I was 17,
or Rocco saying, "Yeah,
you wanna make skate videos?
Okay, here's a 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 certainly,
like, exciting.
And it's like, "Whoa."
That's, like, pretty crazy
to be 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, and just keep --
So we're making magazines
and taking photos,
and also that's when I met Rick.
And, so, I lived with Megan.
One time I come home,
and there's this, like,
blue Acura in front of
the house. I'm like, "Oh...
Looks like Rick Howard's car.
That's weird."
And I go in,
and Rick Howard's there.
And I got to know Rick
really well, and I loved him.
And he basically,
within a month, lived with us.
- And, uh...
- 'Cause he was dating...
He was dating Megan, yeah.
Megan ran sales at World.
Spike! What?
You always wait till I'm mad
to start antagonizing me.
What's so funny, then?
[ Chuckling ] Nothing.
Aaah!
By this point now, World's big.
Like, it went from four people
to I don't know
how many people -- 80 people
or something. It was big.
The emergence of World
came on so strong and hard.
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."
Jonze:
That your new board?
- What?
- Is that new?
- Yeah. Jeremy broke it.
- [ Laughs ]
It lost its innocence, and I
think Spike saw that, felt that.
And I remember thinking,
"This is the beginning
of the end of that."
All this stuff was happening
that we 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 so, I think that's
partially why Girl started.
It was just to go and so
this smaller thing again.
It was just on a whim,
like, random night.
Like, "All right.
We're gonna do a company,"
you know, that actually became,
like, a real thought.
"Let's just try
something different,"
just like everything else
that was going on at that time.
[ People cheering ]
O'Dell: How did that go down?
How did you guys all...
Not -- Not pretty.
[ Laughing ] Not good.
'Cause basically what happened
was we left without telling him.
Like, gave 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
'cause 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
board series that we did.
It's everybody's name
with their --
with the word "Girl" in the
language of their nationality.
[ Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"
plays ]
**
**
**
The idea was 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, like,
it was the guys
Rick wanted to skate with.
**
When Girl first formed, I knew
Spike was gonna 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
and, like, fun skits."
That didn't even cross my mind.
**
**
Mariano:
Why Spike is the way he is
is because he always
took 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 Koston
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.
**
**
Koston: You think about
the Chaplin thing like,
that was all because of him.
We trusted Spike and what he
was trying to get us to do.
**
**
Howard:
The woods session was fun.
It was based around,
like, bad acting.
**
When he has a vision,
he's focused
and there's no fucking around.
But when he's not,
it's like he's a maniac.
I can't believe he's still
alive, this guy, seriously.
[ Laughs ] He's incredible.
This was over in
the Richmond District.
We were driving the car
up and down the street
and driving on the sidewalk,
leaving skids
on this woman's suburban street.
And then she leaned her head
out the window
and was like, "Get out of here!
I'm gonna call the cops!"
And Jeff, he was like,
"Put your head back
in the window, lady!
We're trying to make
a realistic movie here!"
[ Laughs ]
**
**
**
O'Dell: Do you remember if the
"Goldfish" intro was shot first,
or Sabotage?
Hmm.
That's a good question.
So, are we biting Sabotage?
[ Inhales sharply ]
**
**
**
* I can't stand it,
I know you planned it *
"Goldfish," "Sabotage" --
the timeline's almost kind of
irrelevant 'cause it's sort of
like one of the 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 was totally sort
of an integrated part
of this dress-up campaign.
Spike and Yauch,
they kind of figured out
any bit of driving --
getting air over the crest
of hills, bottoming out.
I mean, it's not like the shocks
were in great condition
when we probably
bought the thing.
* Sabotage
People went ape-shit crazy
in a way that we hadn't
really had for, like,
any other song, ever.
So that was kind of
like this holy shit moment.
Wow. This is like this thing
that we made
that's bigger than all of us.
Like, that era of music videos,
he was just, like,
dreaming shit 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?
Jonze:
Growing up in Manhattan,
I performed with several
b-boy posses.
And that's --
Our background's sort of --
They're some of our inspiration.
It's all his choreography also,
let me tell ya.
Original stuff.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Dinosaur Jr.'s "Feel the Pain"
plays ]
**
**
Spiegel: He did this video
for Dinosaur Jr.
called "Feel the Pain"
when I was, like, 14.
And he had me come on set,
and I showed up real early,
right before they
started shooting.
It's like 6:00 in the morning.
And he was like, 25,
directing this video.
And the whole crew's
there watching.
And he starts tearing
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 yet."
**
I remember when Spike
kind of started
blowing up, like, you know?
It's like he started
doing, like,
some of those, like,
Pharcyde videos.
And at the end, you have
that Mark Gonzales-like piece
that gets, like, shattered.
It was kind of like a shout
to, like, skaters.
Like, "I ain't forgot you.
I'm moving up,
but I ain't forgot you."
And we were like, you know,
it's like,
when everyone seen that,
it's was like, "Oh!"
Like, you know,
he counted us in.
And, like, I knew at that point,
I'm like,
"Dude, this guy's gonna go
so much farther
than just music videos."
And that was a big thing.
Like, Spike went
from skateboarding
to 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.
[ Applause ]
And the Oscar goes to...
Spike Jonze.
[ Cheers and applause ]
**
Hi. We're here with Spike Jonze,
the music video director.
He's -- He just has
a few minutes.
Today's July 29, 1996.
I don't wanna waste
too much of your time,
so we'll get right into it.
How did you get into
making music videos, Spike?
Man: Um, well, basically, I --
I'm a big fan of music.
And I like videos.
What do you think
about music videos?
Koston: 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 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.
[ Indistinct chatter ]
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 shooting
and, uh, on Thursday.
Bangs: So this is
the first time that you
directed a feature film?
Yeah. The people that worked
on it were mostly people that --
that I knew from music
videos and commercials.
The first time I met
John Malkovich
was in this really...
[ Grunts ]
[ Shifter clicks ]
[ Sighs ]
It was cool being a kid,
seeing Spike's career go from
skate photographer
to video maker
to music video to film maker,
and seeing him eventually go on
and make feature films,
commercials, et cetera.
And that all stems back
from being a skateboarder
with a video camera.
O'Dell: In between
doing music videos
and then doing feature films,
I feel like you did
some commercials
or things that were, like --
Was there maybe Gonz in a chair
going down a hill?
Oh, yeah. I never did
a straight-up,
like, car commercial.
I would try to do
something that, like,
I thought was gonna
be interesting
or that was more like,
"How can I do more stuff
with my friends?"
**
Like, I loved making stuff
with Mark so, like --
He's so fun to film.
Even though he's asleep
for most of that commercial,
he just -- his face is funny.
[ Truck horn blares ]
The end of the commercial's the
only time he's gotta wake up,
and it's the only point he has
to do a lot of actually acting.
He wakes up and he looks up, and
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 cool truck."
The first take, he does it.
And he kind of looks over at me,
and he's like,
"Spike, I don't wanna
do this anymore.
This is lame." And...
[ Laughs ]
And the people from the agency
are completely like,
"This guy fucking
cast his friend,
and his friend
doesn't wanna do it?"
Jefferson:
That's what I love about Spike,
the way he's always
involved skaters
in anything he's done.
To me, you know,
he's never forgotten
where he's come
from with skating.
**
**
I remember we were shooting
at the Pink Motel,
and, like, Drew Barrymore
is there, you know?
It's like, that life
Spike lived --
lives -- it's so Hollywood,
but it's so not, 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
a skate photographer,
he's gone way past
anything anyone has done.
- Look, it's sticking more now.
- Hey, what about Gino's part?
Come on, you gotta take
your hat off to him.
Backside 360 mani down
the Rosyln Banks?
Jonze: I guess I was editing
"Adaptation,"
and we doing all the skits
for "Yeah Right!"
Got Owen Wilson's number
and asked him
if he would do this thing.
And I was like, "Well, you just
come and you 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 is, like, pre-e-mail,
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."
Feeble backside 180.
Feeble shove, frontside.
Come on, man!
It's 2003!
The next week, he came in,
and he had learned this, like,
two pages of what was basically
gibberish to him.
Don't forget Sylmar.
Front salad, back salad,
front blunt.
- Bullshit.
- Basically,
I got two minutes of footie,
but I'm not using any of it
because it's already been done
in "411" issue number 52.
He'd never even seen
a skate video.
But he said after that, like,
all these people came up to him
and was like,
"Dude, you skate?"
- Oh, fuck!
- Fuck, yeah!
- Come on! Come on!
- Yeah.
- Fuck yeah, dude. Yeah.
- Yeah, right.
- Whoa!
- Oh, man!
Keith's board.
Okay. And everyone talking,
hanging out, and Eric!
Spike is hands-down
the coolest director.
And Brian!
[ John Frusciante's "Murderers"
plays ]
**
**
**
Evans: The first film I did
with them was "Yeah Right!"
You know, I was, like,
this young kid coming on
to help Girl with video stuff.
And, like, I'd never even really
been exposed to his world
and the green boards and the
green ramps and all that stuff.
And, dude, that day he let me
go, like, direct to 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."
**
- Ohh!
- Oh!
Jonze:
You like that style?
**
- Ohh!
- Ohh!
Jefferson: 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.
With the 75,
am I getting full-body,
or is that gonna be too close?
You back up till
you're full body.
Evans: You know, when
those films came out,
I think it was something
different within skateboarding.
You know, skate videos
didn't really feel like that.
**
**
**
**
**
**
**
**
The "Fully Flared" intro
definitely had a danger factor.
[ Wagner's "Flight
of the Valkyries" plays ]
But Spike loves
a little danger factor.
It kind of started out with,
like, big, you know,
air compressors,
like, blowing foam.
Oh, it'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 50-50's down a hubba
and it, like,
blows up all into his face.
**
Mariano: Just blows him up.
I mean, the guy's sitting on
his knees, like, blinded.
"Aah!" Like, we're like,
"I'm not doing one.
I'm not doing this."
Hey, Marty. Can you blow it
earlier, like, right before,
right as he's coming down?
Koston: The later, it's Lucas.
Huge explosion.
Like, Lucas come out.
"I can't hear."
Lucas got fucked up.
He was, like, bleeding
out of his face.
**
Mike Mo, that was
straight napalm, dude.
Like, you could feel the heat
from that 200 feet away.
He did the switch flip,
and then they blew the stairs.
And I think he went deaf
for a couple days.
So that day was pretty,
pretty nuts.
[Laughs]
**
All: Ohh!
Koston: He'll kind of
push the limits.
And he gets out of it, always.
He's like a cat, dude.
This guy has some kind
of magic about him
where he can do some weird shit
and not get in trouble.
[ All cheering ]
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 we're with Spike,
and he's just like,
"Yeah, dude. Gasoline."
Let's drop it down."
Ba-du-ba-dup.
Anyone else
would've gone to jail.
I think he's made a career on
pushing the boundaries of what's
possible in film making,
which is awesome.
But in order to do that, you
gotta keep people on their toes.
[ Laughter ]
Jonze: Wear the sombrero.
Koston: I mean, I've seen him
do so much sketchy shit.
[Laughs] Like, grab a camera,
bomb the hill,
and just slam
and obliterate a Bolex.
Mullen: Spike would always take
it a little further than he --
for the life of me -- I felt
he had the control to handle.
[ Laughing ] And he would
manage to make it anyway.
And that just says
something about character.
- Whoa!
- Oh, yeah!
Always seeking to push himself
into uncomfortable places
just for the sake of,
"How does that feel?"
Like, you're more alive somehow.
Mariano: How long's it been since
you ollied something that big?
10 years?
Mullen:
Of all the people I've known,
and I've known 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.
[ People cheering ]
[ Laughter ]
How'd that feel?
It felt sketchy,
but it felt good.
What's next after
the 3-flat-3 ollie?
Triple set.
Whoo!
[ Laughter ]
**
Tremaine: Spike's career was
taking this sort of serious turn,
like, 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 we started making videos
to go along with the magazine.
Yeah, I just happen
to have them all.
With the clever title,
"Number two."
I am Johnny Knoxville,
United States of America.
Oh!
[ Coughing, spits ]
And it's after we put that video
out that I realize, "Holy shit.
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 assholes
that we can make
something cool out of."
And so I first went
and took that idea to Spike.
And he's like, "Yes."
And our first meeting
was with HBO,
these two women at HBO.
And so you know, my --
I figured, look,
I'm just gonna sit back.
I'm the one that's gonna do --
I'll put it all together.
But Spike's gonna be the one
to legitimize it and sell it.
And so, we quickly
show the tape.
Not too long!
Aah! Aah!
Oh, fucking hell!
Aah! Oh!
And then when it comes time
to talk about it,
Spike's just like, "Uh, uh..."
Uh, yeah. It was really awkward,
and 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 window
was MTV,
and the exact opposite reaction.
We didn't let Spike
talk anymore.
Now we're like, "All right.
We're just -- agent talks,
Knoxville talks.
Sell that damn thing."
[ Minutemen's "Corona" plays ]
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
**
[ Laughter ]
We had no idea that it was
gonna become what it became.
We really just thought
we were making a skate video
that we were getting
paid to put on TV.
**
Mariano: Spike is just such
a crazy artist ahead of his time
that sometimes I think,
like, movies like "Adaptation"
and "Being John Malkovich,"
they're just, like,
really pieces of art.
And you gotta have, like,
a really open mind
to watch something like that.
And the funny thing is
is that movies like "Jackass"
that have gotten a 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
the guy you kicked in the nuts."
Look at the stains
on Pontius's Speedo.
Oh, gross.
Mariano: And I think that Spike
likes that, too,
because Spike probably
deals in, like, Hollywood,
he's got all these executives
and 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, "Fuck this."
Goes out with Tremaine and his
old boys, like freestyle stuff,
and just, like,
do it guerrilla-style,
and just made
shit-tons of money.
And it's just like a fuck-you
to the studios.
It's like, you know,
"Listen to me.
I know what I'm doing."
Oh!
And we cut!
The thing that's cool about
Spike is that it doesn't matter
if he's directing, like,
a $50 million feature
or, like, a $0 feature.
He's still gonna go out
and approach it the same way.
[ Barking ]
I don't know.
What do you think?
I think we've got it.
[ Laughter ]
Evans: I think once
you get to that level
of dealing with
multi-million-dollar projects,
you wanna have some time off.
You wanna 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
"Where the Wild Things Are,"
like, he came out onto
a Lakai skate trip with us.
And I was nervous to see Spike.
I didn't know who Spike was.
He was 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.
- Whoo!
- How's it feeling?
It's scary.
And I shit you not --
Spike skated more on that trip
than most of the pros.
[ People cheering ]
I think Spike is, you know,
next to Tony 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.
If that cop comes back,
we're just filming a video.
Evans: 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.
[ Minutemen's "Cohesion" plays ]
**
Whoo!
**
Jonze: I think skateboarding --
Skateboarding
is, like, a part of me.
It's, like -- it's shaped me.
It, like, made --
It's why I'm here.
I got into photography
through skateboarding.
I got into making videos
through skateboarding.
And skating, especially in the
'80s when I was in high school,
not only did nobody
give a shit about skating,
people aggressively
hated you for it.
So, like,
we weren't making stuff
for anyone's approval
but our own.
**
**
And I guess I look at it as,
"Did I make something
that gives me a feeling?"
Like -- Like, I can watch
Mark Gonzales' part
in the Blind video and I mean,
I 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 to this day.
**
You know, that's what you're
always kind of searching for,
is, like, that buzz
that, like, thing that
gives that
feeling that's like --
makes you stoked
just to skateboard
or stoked to have your friends
or stoked to be alive.
**
**
**
**
[ Crow caws ]
[ Wind whistling ]
[ Cawing continues ]
seagulls calling ]
- Whoo!
- What do you think, Meza?
How did we do?
- That was great.
- That was a lot of pressure.
It was a good morning.
Ready to start the day.
- Aah!
- I'm so sorry!
[ Laughs ]
Look at that!
This is mandatory.
This guy.
Meza. [ Minutemen's "Nature
Without Man" plays ]
I couldn't help it!
[ People cheering ]
Mike D: Those skate videos
that Spike did, like,
they spoke to us in a a way
like no other skate videos.
He kind of brought skateboarding
back to the people, in a sense.
Pow!
* The boundary, the border
* Of right and wrong
* The tariff is self
* The freedom of feeling
Hi, we're hear with Spike Jonze,
the music video director.
That's, like, pretty crazy to be
in my kitchen in Torrance,
and there's a message
from Kim Gordon.
Mariano: Spike went from
skateboarding to 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.
**
- Ohh!
- Ohh!
Evans: Every skateboarder
in the world was like,
"Holy shit. This dude's getting
an Academy Award right now.
He's a skater."
Jonze: [ Laughs ]
What's up? Welcome back
to "Epicly Later'd."
I'm really excited
about this episode.
It's with Spike Jonze,
who was a huge influence on me.
I loved his photography.
I'm a little nervous,
'cause this dude just in skate
is somewhat of a deity.
I mean, he did all these
amazing photos for TransWorld.
I'd say he's my favorite
skate photographer.
He made amazing videos like
"Video Days," "Rubba Sheep."
Went on to do really
cool music videos, films.
And one thing I really
liked about him
is that he still
seems skate to me
even though he's
done everything --
Academy Award.
I've seen him skate.
He's a good skater.
And anyway, we're gonna
creep up on him.
He's eating breakfast over
here at this restaurant.
We're gonna pick him up.
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.
Oh! Dude!
I was thinking,
"Who is that?"
[ Laughs ]
You really didn't know?
I thought it was the guy
who owned this crane.
And he's pissed at you?
That intro better
have been good,
'cause I'm not doing it
again with him listening.
O'Dell: I guess if we just
start chronologically,
you grew up in Maryland.
We're gonna go all the way
back there?
Just -- just -- I just
wanna get, like,
a little general gist
of where you're from.
Man, I'm trying to --
'Cause we'll be here for all day
if I go back, like, if I just...
You can do it, uh,
broad strokes.
The, um...
Yeah. I grew up in D.C.
and knew Jeff,
and, you know...
Um...
Walt Whitman High School,
class of 8--
Well, I was class of '85.
Look at that hot dude.
And that's 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.
Spike somehow, before I knew
him, got a job there.
So he was 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, 8.
[ Laughing ] I mean,
look how little he looked!
Like, he got his nickname,
"Spike," at the bike shop.
Like, you know, he was
Adam Spiegel to me until Jay,
the guy who ran Rockville BMX,
started calling him Spike.
I would work there
in the summertimes,
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.
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 shit with them.
And they loved Spike,
and they kidnapped Spike
and took him
on the road with them.
That's where he met
Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman.
And they were running
"Freestylin'" Magazine.
Bye.
Thanks for coming.
He left for California within
a week or two of graduating.
He might not even have gone
to his graduation.
When it came to
hiring a new guy,
I needed a new guy
at the magazine.
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 he was funny.
Oh, dude!
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.
[ Shutter clicking ]
So eventually, he moved
over to pretty much
being the photographer
for the magazine.
Announcer: You know him,
you love him, Spike Jonze!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Freestylin's
wizard with a camera!
Hoffman: Spike is the definition
of freestyle.
I mean, you just never
really know what to expect
or, like, what version
of Spike is surfacing.
And he just has this creative
energy that just blows up
and you either get out
of the way or you just hold on,
and it can bring you anywhere.
I just wanna skate down
the street, do an ollie,
and slap the hair off his head!
I think just seeing the world
a different way
and just seeing it as, like,
a -- as a playground
and trying to find places that
are less travelled to play in
is kind of how Spike's looked
at everything in his life,
whether it was riding his
skateboard or riding his bike.
**
Whoo-hoo!
We were all skating anyway,
and you know, we developed
more and more
of an interest at 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,
become tight friends with them
'cause that's what
he does to everyone.
So then, we got sucked
into that --
that industry,
I guess you could say.
**
Jonze: All 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, take a lot of bad photos,
like, take endlessly bad photos
until I was like,
"Oh, that one worked,"
and trying to figure out
why it worked.
And eventually, I started
shooting for TransWorld.
Jefferson: He was great at
mixing raw with polished.
As a kid, I would just 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.
Jonze: You're always trying to
capture a trick the way,
like, in it's best form.
Like Jason Lee, like, I remember
shooting some photo of him
and just thinking about
the right angle
where, like, you know
he's gonna point his nose
in a certain way right
about halfway through.
And if you're two feet over,
the trick's gonna look
totally different.
The fist time
I actually ever met Spike
is the time I shot my first
Blind ad,
backside nosegrind
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." I'm like,
"Where'd you get the camera?
Is it your mom's or something?"
You know what I mean?
And he's like, "No,
I'm a photographer. I shoot."
Spike felt like me,
looked like me, talked like me.
And he has a real gift
with, like,
taking people
out of their element,
making them feel comfortable,
and just being a real person
before a photographer.
His photos went to TransWorld,
but he worked
at World Industries.
So he shot Gonz.
He shot Jason Lee.
He shot Ron Chatman.
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 was my childhood
right there -- Spike's photos.
**
I mean, the first real guys
I skated with a lot
in terms of --
and photographed a lot were,
like, right when World started,
'cause Rocco was also
in Torrance.
World was only, like,
four people at the time.
So he's like, "Hey, you
wanna 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, we can't do that?"
Yeah, we can.
It was just a wild thing
going on over 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.
Jefferson:
I mean, it was World.
Like, World dominated
what was cool in skating then.
And Spike was right there.
Jonze: That's how I went
from photos to video.
It was like
I was shooting his ads
and we were out skating one day,
and I asked him
if he was gonna do
a skate video.
And he's like,
"Yeah, I wanna do one.
I just don't have time to
shoot it. Do you wanna 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's like, "Yeah, okay."
And he's just right there,
and, like, I think we were,
like, at some spot,
and he gave me
the company credit card.
And he said, "Go find --
Yeah, go buy a camera
and editing --
and some editing stuff."
**
It was like the brats took over,
had their own
skateboard company.
* 7:00, gotta get up
* Alarm clock,
mom yelling at 7:00 *
* See her downstairs,
it's time for a shower *
* Went to the school bus stop
* Waited at the bus stop
with my friends *
Aah!
* Only had one, sorry
This is Jeremy Klein,
professional beast of his class.
[ Laughter ]
Jonze:
It was just like anything went.
Seriously, gonna lose
our jobs here.
That's what happens when
you give a bunch of, like,
18-year-old kids
the keys to the whatever --
some metaphor for the kingdom.
[ High-pitched ] Hey!
Brought the plumber
over here to fix
your shit now with
your fucking pipes!
For real.
- This is a worm.
- [ Laughs ] That's so thick.
Ugh!
[ Laughter ]
Woman: Come on.
Oh, not chew it up.
- Okay, come on out here, then.
- You're going down, Mark.
[ Laughter ]
Ow!
Aah!
- That's cool.
- The Blind video's in there?
Yeah. But I don't know
where the master is.
Might've left it at
the dubbing house, probably.
We weren't really paying
that much attention.
That's my claim
to fame right there.
Well, his impact on
skateboarding is enormous
'cause I think it feels to me
like 9 skaters out of 10
say their favorite skate video
in 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, edit,
you know, and so on and so on.
Not many people were just
pushing around with a 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.
The little nuances,
the things that, like,
a skate nerd like me
would geek out on.
Carnie: "Video Days" was just,
you know, raw.
He kind of brought skateboarding
back to the people, in a sense.
"Video Days" was just this --
the reality of how
skateboarding was --
a bunch of dumb fucking kids
riding around in a car
drinking 40-ouncers.
Like, that's why
it was so impactful.
It was because it was
actually skateboarding.
O'Dell: 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've
articulated it,
but I -- like this.
But I think what I was doing
was I just wanted to make
a video that felt like
hanging out with Mark.
- Okay, come on out here, then.
- You're going down, Mark.
Gonzales: Okay, good.
[ Laughter ]
It was kind of, like,
never explained
'cause 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,
like you don't quite
explain anything.
Lean forward and look
at the mirror.
Lean close to the mirror.
**
**
He just had endless ideas.
He's like,
"I've got a new trick.
It's like you slide on your nose
on top of the curb."
I was like, "What?"
And we at 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
noseblunt slide on the red curb.
I was like,
"That is ridiculous."
And I was like -- I could never
imagine him getting out of it.
It didn't seem like
it was possible
'cause you'd never
seen it before.
And in his mind,
anything was possible.
And we went up to this
high school in Santa Monica.
It had that kinked rail.
And again, he was like --
We're parked outside,
and we stop.
And he said, "I wanna
do that rail."
And we're all looking
at it like,
"But it's got a bend in it.
It's got a huge,
like, kink in it.
You can't do that."
And he's like, "No, I think
I could if I just, like,
leaned back I could just, like,
board-side through it."
And we're all like,
"What? Is this possible?"
**
And I think it was the third
try, he lands and rolls away.
And we're like, "Holy shit!"
And we're like -- For the rest
of the day we're like,
"Now we don't even
need to do anything."
Like, "We got that?
That's crazy."
And then he just kept going.
**
**
So 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,
and his part was done.
- Yeah!
- Watch that truck! [ Laughs ]
* You're like a crazy person
walking around *
Mark Gonzales and Spike Jonze
were a funny combo together.
- Okay, start recording.
- Come over.
Let me use one
of my foot techniques.
- [ Laughs ]
- Okay, come over.
Mariano: They were
kind of like two kids,
like, beefing with each other,
like --
And I know they would, like,
wrestle and fight.
And it'd kind of,
like, get serious.
- Pow!
- Ugh!
Oh! Oof!
And I think that Spike
working with Mike Gonzales
from such a young age...
Okay, Mike.
You got that one.
- Enough!
- ...it made him to be able
to adapt and to work
with anybody,
any artist,
anything in the world
'cause Mark Gonzales is just,
like, a million people.
[ Speaking Spanish ]
I've been sober for
about five months now.
I just -- I quit told --
cold turkey.
[ Speaking Spanish ]
I don't smoke anymore, either.
I just keep 'em behind
my ear for good luck.
* Ooh, ooh
**
Aah!
Jonze: Yeah, Mark!
[ Indistinct ]
At one point, Mark goes,
"You know, I wanna go get
some clips in Mexico."
We go to Mexico.
We go to the skate park,
and then we start driving
up in these mountains.
And Mark's like, "I wanna
fucking drive the car
off a cliff."
I was just total, like,
you know, just, like,
Spike and Mark just crazy
guerrilla-style freestyling it.
You gotta go faster, though.
Car in 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 it.
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.
Okay.
That was rad, Mark.
We pulled it off.
**
O'Dell: So your mom
thought you really died?
Thought they died.
You know, she called me up.
I sent her the video
and she's like,
"That's so sad. They all..."
You know?
"How are their parents?"
[ Laughs ] I'm like, "No, Mom.
They didn't die."
**
When we finished 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 into a bus.
And he's like, "Hey, you guys!
We made a skate video."
And he gave them the video,
the VHS copy of the video.
That's basically how I got
into music videos,
is that Kim Gordon called me,
saw that video and was like,
"Hey, we're making
this music video.
We wanna have
skateboarding in it.
Will you come shoot it?"
**
* I can never forget you
* The way you rock the girls
Kim and I and Thurston watched
that video where the kids
are in the car and the video
is they just drive it
off the cliff.
[Laughs] And I was like,
I thought it was brilliant.
And I found out that this kid,
Spike Jonze, was behind it.
So that's when I contacted him
and started to talk to him
about being in the video.
Jonze: Tamra was
directing the video.
She said, "Come hang out
as much as you want."
I was like, "Okay."
And so I hung out every day.
It 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 16mm camera
for the first time.
He'd never really done it
in a professional way like that,
like real cameras,
like a real video.
And we're just about to shoot,
and he stops.
And he pulls me over,
and he's like,
"I've never done this before."
And there's, like,
an entire crew.
And I just looked back
at him and I was like,
"Nobody knows that."
[ Chuckles ]
**
Jonze: Thurston, when I met him,
he told me that
they liked that video a lot
because it felt voyeuristic.
I was like,
"Okay, cool. Thank you.
But -- what's 'voyeuristic'
mean?"
[ Laughs ]
**
- Should we go walk around?
- Yeah. This is your photo?
This is actually
behind our house in --
This is Sonic Youth.
The first frame,
I shot the whole thing.
And then I went in
and shot six in a row
and then six in a row
and then six in a row.
There's times in your life that,
like, your life is changed.
You know? And it's like
Andy and Lew hiring me
at the magazine when I was 17,
or Rocco saying, "Yeah,
you wanna make skate videos?
Okay, here's a 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 certainly,
like, exciting.
And it's like, "Whoa."
That's, like, pretty crazy
to be 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, and just keep --
So we're making magazines
and taking photos,
and also that's when I met Rick.
And, so, I lived with Megan.
One time I come home,
and there's this, like,
blue Acura in front of
the house. I'm like, "Oh...
Looks like Rick Howard's car.
That's weird."
And I go in,
and Rick Howard's there.
And I got to know Rick
really well, and I loved him.
And he basically,
within a month, lived with us.
- And, uh...
- 'Cause he was dating...
He was dating Megan, yeah.
Megan ran sales at World.
Spike! What?
You always wait till I'm mad
to start antagonizing me.
What's so funny, then?
[ Chuckling ] Nothing.
Aaah!
By this point now, World's big.
Like, it went from four people
to I don't know
how many people -- 80 people
or something. It was big.
The emergence of World
came on so strong and hard.
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."
Jonze:
That your new board?
- What?
- Is that new?
- Yeah. Jeremy broke it.
- [ Laughs ]
It lost its innocence, and I
think Spike saw that, felt that.
And I remember thinking,
"This is the beginning
of the end of that."
All this stuff was happening
that we 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 so, I think that's
partially why Girl started.
It was just to go and so
this smaller thing again.
It was just on a whim,
like, random night.
Like, "All right.
We're gonna do a company,"
you know, that actually became,
like, a real thought.
"Let's just try
something different,"
just like everything else
that was going on at that time.
[ People cheering ]
O'Dell: How did that go down?
How did you guys all...
Not -- Not pretty.
[ Laughing ] Not good.
'Cause basically what happened
was we left without telling him.
Like, gave 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
'cause 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
board series that we did.
It's everybody's name
with their --
with the word "Girl" in the
language of their nationality.
[ Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"
plays ]
**
**
**
The idea was 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, like,
it was the guys
Rick wanted to skate with.
**
When Girl first formed, I knew
Spike was gonna 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
and, like, fun skits."
That didn't even cross my mind.
**
**
Mariano:
Why Spike is the way he is
is because he always
took 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 Koston
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.
**
**
Koston: You think about
the Chaplin thing like,
that was all because of him.
We trusted Spike and what he
was trying to get us to do.
**
**
Howard:
The woods session was fun.
It was based around,
like, bad acting.
**
When he has a vision,
he's focused
and there's no fucking around.
But when he's not,
it's like he's a maniac.
I can't believe he's still
alive, this guy, seriously.
[ Laughs ] He's incredible.
This was over in
the Richmond District.
We were driving the car
up and down the street
and driving on the sidewalk,
leaving skids
on this woman's suburban street.
And then she leaned her head
out the window
and was like, "Get out of here!
I'm gonna call the cops!"
And Jeff, he was like,
"Put your head back
in the window, lady!
We're trying to make
a realistic movie here!"
[ Laughs ]
**
**
**
O'Dell: Do you remember if the
"Goldfish" intro was shot first,
or Sabotage?
Hmm.
That's a good question.
So, are we biting Sabotage?
[ Inhales sharply ]
**
**
**
* I can't stand it,
I know you planned it *
"Goldfish," "Sabotage" --
the timeline's almost kind of
irrelevant 'cause it's sort of
like one of the 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 was totally sort
of an integrated part
of this dress-up campaign.
Spike and Yauch,
they kind of figured out
any bit of driving --
getting air over the crest
of hills, bottoming out.
I mean, it's not like the shocks
were in great condition
when we probably
bought the thing.
* Sabotage
People went ape-shit crazy
in a way that we hadn't
really had for, like,
any other song, ever.
So that was kind of
like this holy shit moment.
Wow. This is like this thing
that we made
that's bigger than all of us.
Like, that era of music videos,
he was just, like,
dreaming shit 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?
Jonze:
Growing up in Manhattan,
I performed with several
b-boy posses.
And that's --
Our background's sort of --
They're some of our inspiration.
It's all his choreography also,
let me tell ya.
Original stuff.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Dinosaur Jr.'s "Feel the Pain"
plays ]
**
**
Spiegel: He did this video
for Dinosaur Jr.
called "Feel the Pain"
when I was, like, 14.
And he had me come on set,
and I showed up real early,
right before they
started shooting.
It's like 6:00 in the morning.
And he was like, 25,
directing this video.
And the whole crew's
there watching.
And he starts tearing
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 yet."
**
I remember when Spike
kind of started
blowing up, like, you know?
It's like he started
doing, like,
some of those, like,
Pharcyde videos.
And at the end, you have
that Mark Gonzales-like piece
that gets, like, shattered.
It was kind of like a shout
to, like, skaters.
Like, "I ain't forgot you.
I'm moving up,
but I ain't forgot you."
And we were like, you know,
it's like,
when everyone seen that,
it's was like, "Oh!"
Like, you know,
he counted us in.
And, like, I knew at that point,
I'm like,
"Dude, this guy's gonna go
so much farther
than just music videos."
And that was a big thing.
Like, Spike went
from skateboarding
to 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.
[ Applause ]
And the Oscar goes to...
Spike Jonze.
[ Cheers and applause ]
**
Hi. We're here with Spike Jonze,
the music video director.
He's -- He just has
a few minutes.
Today's July 29, 1996.
I don't wanna waste
too much of your time,
so we'll get right into it.
How did you get into
making music videos, Spike?
Man: Um, well, basically, I --
I'm a big fan of music.
And I like videos.
What do you think
about music videos?
Koston: 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 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.
[ Indistinct chatter ]
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 shooting
and, uh, on Thursday.
Bangs: So this is
the first time that you
directed a feature film?
Yeah. The people that worked
on it were mostly people that --
that I knew from music
videos and commercials.
The first time I met
John Malkovich
was in this really...
[ Grunts ]
[ Shifter clicks ]
[ Sighs ]
It was cool being a kid,
seeing Spike's career go from
skate photographer
to video maker
to music video to film maker,
and seeing him eventually go on
and make feature films,
commercials, et cetera.
And that all stems back
from being a skateboarder
with a video camera.
O'Dell: In between
doing music videos
and then doing feature films,
I feel like you did
some commercials
or things that were, like --
Was there maybe Gonz in a chair
going down a hill?
Oh, yeah. I never did
a straight-up,
like, car commercial.
I would try to do
something that, like,
I thought was gonna
be interesting
or that was more like,
"How can I do more stuff
with my friends?"
**
Like, I loved making stuff
with Mark so, like --
He's so fun to film.
Even though he's asleep
for most of that commercial,
he just -- his face is funny.
[ Truck horn blares ]
The end of the commercial's the
only time he's gotta wake up,
and it's the only point he has
to do a lot of actually acting.
He wakes up and he looks up, and
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 cool truck."
The first take, he does it.
And he kind of looks over at me,
and he's like,
"Spike, I don't wanna
do this anymore.
This is lame." And...
[ Laughs ]
And the people from the agency
are completely like,
"This guy fucking
cast his friend,
and his friend
doesn't wanna do it?"
Jefferson:
That's what I love about Spike,
the way he's always
involved skaters
in anything he's done.
To me, you know,
he's never forgotten
where he's come
from with skating.
**
**
I remember we were shooting
at the Pink Motel,
and, like, Drew Barrymore
is there, you know?
It's like, that life
Spike lived --
lives -- it's so Hollywood,
but it's so not, 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
a skate photographer,
he's gone way past
anything anyone has done.
- Look, it's sticking more now.
- Hey, what about Gino's part?
Come on, you gotta take
your hat off to him.
Backside 360 mani down
the Rosyln Banks?
Jonze: I guess I was editing
"Adaptation,"
and we doing all the skits
for "Yeah Right!"
Got Owen Wilson's number
and asked him
if he would do this thing.
And I was like, "Well, you just
come and you 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 is, like, pre-e-mail,
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."
Feeble backside 180.
Feeble shove, frontside.
Come on, man!
It's 2003!
The next week, he came in,
and he had learned this, like,
two pages of what was basically
gibberish to him.
Don't forget Sylmar.
Front salad, back salad,
front blunt.
- Bullshit.
- Basically,
I got two minutes of footie,
but I'm not using any of it
because it's already been done
in "411" issue number 52.
He'd never even seen
a skate video.
But he said after that, like,
all these people came up to him
and was like,
"Dude, you skate?"
- Oh, fuck!
- Fuck, yeah!
- Come on! Come on!
- Yeah.
- Fuck yeah, dude. Yeah.
- Yeah, right.
- Whoa!
- Oh, man!
Keith's board.
Okay. And everyone talking,
hanging out, and Eric!
Spike is hands-down
the coolest director.
And Brian!
[ John Frusciante's "Murderers"
plays ]
**
**
**
Evans: The first film I did
with them was "Yeah Right!"
You know, I was, like,
this young kid coming on
to help Girl with video stuff.
And, like, I'd never even really
been exposed to his world
and the green boards and the
green ramps and all that stuff.
And, dude, that day he let me
go, like, direct to 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."
**
- Ohh!
- Oh!
Jonze:
You like that style?
**
- Ohh!
- Ohh!
Jefferson: 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.
With the 75,
am I getting full-body,
or is that gonna be too close?
You back up till
you're full body.
Evans: You know, when
those films came out,
I think it was something
different within skateboarding.
You know, skate videos
didn't really feel like that.
**
**
**
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The "Fully Flared" intro
definitely had a danger factor.
[ Wagner's "Flight
of the Valkyries" plays ]
But Spike loves
a little danger factor.
It kind of started out with,
like, big, you know,
air compressors,
like, blowing foam.
Oh, it'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 50-50's down a hubba
and it, like,
blows up all into his face.
**
Mariano: Just blows him up.
I mean, the guy's sitting on
his knees, like, blinded.
"Aah!" Like, we're like,
"I'm not doing one.
I'm not doing this."
Hey, Marty. Can you blow it
earlier, like, right before,
right as he's coming down?
Koston: The later, it's Lucas.
Huge explosion.
Like, Lucas come out.
"I can't hear."
Lucas got fucked up.
He was, like, bleeding
out of his face.
**
Mike Mo, that was
straight napalm, dude.
Like, you could feel the heat
from that 200 feet away.
He did the switch flip,
and then they blew the stairs.
And I think he went deaf
for a couple days.
So that day was pretty,
pretty nuts.
[Laughs]
**
All: Ohh!
Koston: He'll kind of
push the limits.
And he gets out of it, always.
He's like a cat, dude.
This guy has some kind
of magic about him
where he can do some weird shit
and not get in trouble.
[ All cheering ]
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 we're with Spike,
and he's just like,
"Yeah, dude. Gasoline."
Let's drop it down."
Ba-du-ba-dup.
Anyone else
would've gone to jail.
I think he's made a career on
pushing the boundaries of what's
possible in film making,
which is awesome.
But in order to do that, you
gotta keep people on their toes.
[ Laughter ]
Jonze: Wear the sombrero.
Koston: I mean, I've seen him
do so much sketchy shit.
[Laughs] Like, grab a camera,
bomb the hill,
and just slam
and obliterate a Bolex.
Mullen: Spike would always take
it a little further than he --
for the life of me -- I felt
he had the control to handle.
[ Laughing ] And he would
manage to make it anyway.
And that just says
something about character.
- Whoa!
- Oh, yeah!
Always seeking to push himself
into uncomfortable places
just for the sake of,
"How does that feel?"
Like, you're more alive somehow.
Mariano: How long's it been since
you ollied something that big?
10 years?
Mullen:
Of all the people I've known,
and I've known 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.
[ People cheering ]
[ Laughter ]
How'd that feel?
It felt sketchy,
but it felt good.
What's next after
the 3-flat-3 ollie?
Triple set.
Whoo!
[ Laughter ]
**
Tremaine: Spike's career was
taking this sort of serious turn,
like, 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 we started making videos
to go along with the magazine.
Yeah, I just happen
to have them all.
With the clever title,
"Number two."
I am Johnny Knoxville,
United States of America.
Oh!
[ Coughing, spits ]
And it's after we put that video
out that I realize, "Holy shit.
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 assholes
that we can make
something cool out of."
And so I first went
and took that idea to Spike.
And he's like, "Yes."
And our first meeting
was with HBO,
these two women at HBO.
And so you know, my --
I figured, look,
I'm just gonna sit back.
I'm the one that's gonna do --
I'll put it all together.
But Spike's gonna be the one
to legitimize it and sell it.
And so, we quickly
show the tape.
Not too long!
Aah! Aah!
Oh, fucking hell!
Aah! Oh!
And then when it comes time
to talk about it,
Spike's just like, "Uh, uh..."
Uh, yeah. It was really awkward,
and 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 window
was MTV,
and the exact opposite reaction.
We didn't let Spike
talk anymore.
Now we're like, "All right.
We're just -- agent talks,
Knoxville talks.
Sell that damn thing."
[ Minutemen's "Corona" plays ]
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
**
[ Laughter ]
We had no idea that it was
gonna become what it became.
We really just thought
we were making a skate video
that we were getting
paid to put on TV.
**
Mariano: Spike is just such
a crazy artist ahead of his time
that sometimes I think,
like, movies like "Adaptation"
and "Being John Malkovich,"
they're just, like,
really pieces of art.
And you gotta have, like,
a really open mind
to watch something like that.
And the funny thing is
is that movies like "Jackass"
that have gotten a 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
the guy you kicked in the nuts."
Look at the stains
on Pontius's Speedo.
Oh, gross.
Mariano: And I think that Spike
likes that, too,
because Spike probably
deals in, like, Hollywood,
he's got all these executives
and 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, "Fuck this."
Goes out with Tremaine and his
old boys, like freestyle stuff,
and just, like,
do it guerrilla-style,
and just made
shit-tons of money.
And it's just like a fuck-you
to the studios.
It's like, you know,
"Listen to me.
I know what I'm doing."
Oh!
And we cut!
The thing that's cool about
Spike is that it doesn't matter
if he's directing, like,
a $50 million feature
or, like, a $0 feature.
He's still gonna go out
and approach it the same way.
[ Barking ]
I don't know.
What do you think?
I think we've got it.
[ Laughter ]
Evans: I think once
you get to that level
of dealing with
multi-million-dollar projects,
you wanna have some time off.
You wanna 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
"Where the Wild Things Are,"
like, he came out onto
a Lakai skate trip with us.
And I was nervous to see Spike.
I didn't know who Spike was.
He was 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.
- Whoo!
- How's it feeling?
It's scary.
And I shit you not --
Spike skated more on that trip
than most of the pros.
[ People cheering ]
I think Spike is, you know,
next to Tony 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.
If that cop comes back,
we're just filming a video.
Evans: 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.
[ Minutemen's "Cohesion" plays ]
**
Whoo!
**
Jonze: I think skateboarding --
Skateboarding
is, like, a part of me.
It's, like -- it's shaped me.
It, like, made --
It's why I'm here.
I got into photography
through skateboarding.
I got into making videos
through skateboarding.
And skating, especially in the
'80s when I was in high school,
not only did nobody
give a shit about skating,
people aggressively
hated you for it.
So, like,
we weren't making stuff
for anyone's approval
but our own.
**
**
And I guess I look at it as,
"Did I make something
that gives me a feeling?"
Like -- Like, I can watch
Mark Gonzales' part
in the Blind video and I mean,
I 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 to this day.
**
You know, that's what you're
always kind of searching for,
is, like, that buzz
that, like, thing that
gives that
feeling that's like --
makes you stoked
just to skateboard
or stoked to have your friends
or stoked to be alive.
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[ Crow caws ]
[ Wind whistling ]
[ Cawing continues ]