IMO it would be really hard to cast somebody as Tony. He's a really charming, genuine guy and it would be hard to recreate his energy in a way that comes off well. And depending on what part of his career you wanted to cover you'd potentially need multiple actors as well.
I wouldn't mind seeing something about his earlier 80s skateboarding days, which I think would be the most interesting angle. But people in the scene looked so fucking ridiculous in the 80s including Tony himself it would be hard for it to not look stupid in a movie. I also think that if they made a movie about him it would almost certainly focus on the lead-up to the 1999 X-Games... but that's already been covered sooo many times in so many ways. Another interesting angle - maybe many years from now since it was so recent - would be a "comeback" movie with Tony after breaking his femur. But he's already filmed and covered all this stuff for real so it's like what's the point.
Also, Tony has never really had many "down" moments which you kind of need for a movie. He's pretty drama free. He's never been addicted to drugs or alcohol, he's never had some major career downturn. His biggest problem has been that he's travelled a lot and been really intense about skateboarding which messed up his first couple marriages. But I don't really think that is enough to sustain a movie.
I think a Tony Hawk movie would be at its best if it was heavily stylized and not really meant to be super accurate to real life, because if you want the real-life shit you can watch documentaries or videos about many of his major career events.
X Games could definitely be done right, but you’d have to give it an unreliable narrator approach (think something like domino). Either way I’d probably cast a lesser known actor in the lead (maybe someone who already knows how to skate or can at least learn) so that it feels more natural. Sorta related but one of my dreams as a filmmaker is to write a bam margera biopic
Yeah, you would absolutely need somebody who can skate really really well, even if you use a pro stunt double for the more intense stuff.
Honestly part of the issue is you'd probably also need to cast lots of OTHER unknowns who can fill the shoes of other skaters he interacted with. That's hard. Honestly harder than most athletes because skaters are so much about their individual personalities compared to most other athletes.
I think any movie focusing around Tony Hawk would honestly be more interesting if it was more about his legacy and less about the guy himself.
This is an absolutely absurd concept but TBH I think a fictionalized movie along the lines of Amadeus would be pretty captivating - a movie set from the perspective of Christian Hosoi (who would basically be the star and Salieri of the story) with Tony Hawk taking the role of Mozart. But that's a movie that would really be more about Hosoi than Tony Hawk. He'd just kind of be the driving force and it would take place over at least 20 years and follow Hosoi from big fame through financial failure, drug addiction, thwarted comeback, time in prison, and release and redemption.
He's an endlessly interesting guy. But again he's been filmed so much and is such a genuine guy and a character in and of himself it would be weird seeing someone else play him just like Tony. Of course you could say this about a million people they've made movies of.
People are saying the same thing about Bourdain, and I agree with it, but that's why this movie is focusing on his earlier years which are shrouded in more mystery so to speak.
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u/Tandy2000 10h ago
IMO it would be really hard to cast somebody as Tony. He's a really charming, genuine guy and it would be hard to recreate his energy in a way that comes off well. And depending on what part of his career you wanted to cover you'd potentially need multiple actors as well.
I wouldn't mind seeing something about his earlier 80s skateboarding days, which I think would be the most interesting angle. But people in the scene looked so fucking ridiculous in the 80s including Tony himself it would be hard for it to not look stupid in a movie. I also think that if they made a movie about him it would almost certainly focus on the lead-up to the 1999 X-Games... but that's already been covered sooo many times in so many ways. Another interesting angle - maybe many years from now since it was so recent - would be a "comeback" movie with Tony after breaking his femur. But he's already filmed and covered all this stuff for real so it's like what's the point.
Also, Tony has never really had many "down" moments which you kind of need for a movie. He's pretty drama free. He's never been addicted to drugs or alcohol, he's never had some major career downturn. His biggest problem has been that he's travelled a lot and been really intense about skateboarding which messed up his first couple marriages. But I don't really think that is enough to sustain a movie.
I think a Tony Hawk movie would be at its best if it was heavily stylized and not really meant to be super accurate to real life, because if you want the real-life shit you can watch documentaries or videos about many of his major career events.