Critically
Acclaimed Director Dana Brown Leads Massive Production Team
to Film Legendary Desert Adventure
Santa Monica, Calif. – Seeking to capture the
power, beauty, mystery and solitude of a Baja landscape that comes
alive once a year with the annual running of the world’s most famous
off-road race, filmmaker Dana Brown and the producers of this summer’s
critically acclaimed "Step Into Liquid" will gather in
Ensenada to produce "Dust to Glory," a full-length feature
film about the 2003 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.
Armed with a large team of Hollywood’s best production talent and
a logistical plan that resembles a military operation, Brown has
combined the "Step Into Liquid" production team of Scott
Waugh and Rich Wilson with motorcycle racer turned producer Mike
"Mouse" McCoy, professional racer and director of photography
Kevin Ward ("The Perfect Moment"), race organizer Sal
Fish and SCORE International, and veteran Baja 1000 racer and "1000
Miles to Glory" author Marty Fiolka, who joins the team as
associate producer.
Brown’s vast experience includes collaborating
with his father, famed director Bruce Brown, best known for directing
the 1966 classic surfing documentary "Endless Summer,"
who will serve as Creative Consultant on "Dust To Glory".
The father and son team were also responsible for the classic remake
"Endless Summer II." Bruce Brown also cemented his position
in filmmaking history as the director of the motorcycle racing documentary,
the Academy award-nominated "On Any Sunday."
The film, scheduled for release in June, 2004, has been created
to take audiences into the adrenaline-induced granddaddy of all
off road races — the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. "Dust
To Glory" follows on the highly-successful heels of Brown’s
directorial debut the Artisan Entertainment theatrical release "Step
Into Liquid" which has been hailed as the "best surfing
documentary ever made" by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.
To bring Brown’s vision to the big screen, "Dust
To Glory" will employ nearly 70 crew people, 17 separate camera
crews, four helicopters, a state-of-the-art unlimited style buggy
designed as a camera car and actual race cars to provide a truly
realistic race experience. While the team will shoot much of the
sights and sounds of the "Baja Mil" in a truly documentary
style fashion, several planned story lines include McCoy’s solo
attempt to run the race on a motorcycle, the return of NASCAR driver
Robby Gordon in the Trophy-Truck division, the Class 11 stock VW
Tecate sedan of Mexican national Eric Solorzano, the Groff Motorsports
Class 1 effort with an all-Indy 500 driving team, the story of three
generations of McMillin Racing, an all- girls effort in the Wide
Open Ultimate Baja Challenge class, and the story of race legend
Malcolm Smith’s effort in building a children’s orphanage in Valle
de Trinidad.
In addition to one-on-one interview taking during the race, real-time
footage from the 2003 Baja 1000, "Dust To Glory" will
also feature rare historical Bruce Brown footage from the inaugural
Baja 1000 starring Steve McQueen and James Garner as well as clips
depicting the various racing legends, characters, myths and folklore
that are associated with the race.
"Dust To Glory" will document "the
most famous race that no one has ever seen." The Baja 1000
is the longest point to point race in the world and boasts between
300-400 competitors each taking off at 30 second intervals battling
the desert aboard their off-road vehicle of choice ranging from
motorcycles to Buggies to $750,000 Trophy Trucks as it pits man
against man, man against the machine and man against nature.
"Audiences will have a huge emotional attachment to this project,
said McCoy who also serves as a producer on the project along with
Waugh. "The speed, danger and adventure is all real with the
characters in the film actually risking their lives unlike today’s
Hollywood blockbusters that utilize green screens and computer generated
imagery and effects to simulate danger. "Dust To Glory"
is the type of rare action sports documentary that will live on
forever."
In addition to producers Waugh, who is also an
accomplished stuntman/stunt-coordinator and McCoy, C. Rich Wilson
("Step Into Liquid") will serve as Executive Producer.
The production team has partnered with Sal Fish, CEO of SCORE International,
the sanctioning body of the Baja 1000, who will help coordinate
the shoot and provide unlimited access to the event. The final addition
to the team was Fiolka, an off-road PR veteran whose forthcoming
SCORE Baja 1000 coffee-table history book, "1000 Miles to Glory,"
will be released the same day as "Dust To Glory."
"We are doing everything to bring
this indescribable experience to life," adds Brown who envisions
this film to do what his past projects have done for surfing and
then some. "In addition to the hard core racing enthusiasts,
there are more than 36 million Americans who use off road vehicles
as a form of recreation and the numbers only multiply when you take
into consideration the millions of people from other countries."
Concluded Brown: ‘There is an immeasurable audience inherent with
this type of film, for whatever their individual reasons may be,
as it is part of the greater race…the human race, concluded
Brown."
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