JACK FIELD / RHIANNA BUCHANAN
on coordinating a team of riders for the most recent
Mad Max film and he called me up to ride with Cody
Mackie, Robbie Marshall and Michael Addison.
Then a bit later on the film crew behind The
Wolverine called Cam Sinclair wanting a trialsspecific stunt rider and Cam gave them my details.
Now I’ve done quite a few TV commercials and
movies. I’m starting to make a bit of name for
myself now in that area, which is pretty cool.
What movies have you worked on now?
There was Mad Max and The Wolverine, then I
worked with The Rock on Central Intelligence and
have recently filmed with Vin Diesel for the new XXX
movie.
Is it inti midating working with the likes of Vin
Diesel and The Rock? They’re pretty bad dudes.
Aaah… I mean, I treat everyone the same and
I don’t really get star-struck by people. At the
same time, we’ve been lucky that everyone we’ve
worked with has been down-to-earth and happy
to talk, come and ask questions and things like
that. There’s a huge amount of respect between
everyone and it’s been a really welcoming
environment so far.
Is the stunt-double thing something you’d like to
get into more in the future? I’m guessing it’d pay
a s**tload better than shows.
[Laughs] Yeah definitely. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s not
as easy as everyone thinks. We work a lot of long
hours and you can be sitting there for hours –
even days – doing nothing, and next second you
get the call to jump on your bike and backflip a
heavily modified bike with a s**t-tonne of gear on,
in the freezing cold and you have no time to warm
up or anything. There are a lot of different elements
from what I was used to in a controlled show
environment. u
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What we
“
want to do
the Shell, which will be a PG version
of the manga comic. That comes out
February, but I don’t really know how
much I can talk about it yet, sorry.
You and Jack are becoming a bit of
a power couple. Do you find people
looking up to you guys and wishing
they could have your life?
There’s also this new Monster Jam
gig you’re involved in. How did that
happen?
[Laughs] Yeah they have started calling
us that and it makes me take a step
back. I guess I don’t notice it as we’re
so focused on what we’re doing and
trying to better ourselves, but it’s
amazing that we might be influencing
other people and setting an example
of how to work together. We are a bit
strange where we can spend all day
every day together and still be friends
[laughs]. At the same it’s not always
peaches and cream.
That came about through the MEC as
well. The Monster Jam people needed
another host in Australia and I was
recommended for it. I worked on the
tour last year and it was incredible; it
was like something out of my dreams
as a kid, watching these 5,500kg
machines launching through the air
and doing gnarly tricks.
After last year’s tour we had
discussions and they put forward
a proposal for me to become an
Australian ambassador, which included
the opportunity to drive a monster
truck. I was like “hell yeah!” I didn’t
have to think twice about that one.
So you’ve been over in the States for
the Monster Jam University. How’s
that gone?
I guess I passed the first stage.
Eleven-time world finals champion Tom
Meents was my coach and he was
happy with how quickly I picked up the
techniques. He reckons it’ll only take
a bit more training to get me ready to
jump in competitions, then it’s up to
me to get it done. The next step is to
find out if there’s a spot for me on next
year’s Australian tour and possibly
other tours. Everything will be figured
out over the next few months, but it’s
such an exciting opportunity.
I was just about to say that. Do you
guys ever drive each other nuts?
Oh, of course, and sometimes it’s
even intentional. If we’ve had a rough
time and haven’t had any sleep, u
and where
we want
to be is
constantly
changing,
but that
suits us FIne