Johnny Knoxville Now a 3-D ‘Jackass’
Posted October 15, 2010 12:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
For the last 10 years, Johnny Knoxville and his team of highly-trained stunt professionals (or sideshow misfits, if you prefer) have been entertaining high school kids and frat boys with their slapstick gags, while grossing out most of the general public with scenarios like the “Poo Cocktail Supreme” (where someone strapped in a full porta-potty is shot in the air and is, in turn, covered with the contents of said porta-potty). While it’s not for everyone, it has made MTV (where the show got its start) and Paramount Pictures (who distributes the films) enough money to want Knoxville and the boys to keep filming their sometimes insanely dangerous ideas.
For their third venture on the big screen, Knoxville and Jackass co-creator and director Jeff Tremaine knew they had to step it up a level, and Jackass 3-D was born (yes, the aforementioned “Poo Cocktail Supreme” scene is in 3-D). Using the latest technology not only allowed for the troupe to get more creative with the stunts, but also ended up being one of the best-looking Jackass productions ever made.
CityNews.ca spoke with Knoxville and Tremaine about the film. Read our Q&A below.
Brian McKechnie: Did you guys ever imagine that you would be doing a 3-D ‘Jackass’ movie when you started the show 10 years ago?
Johnny Knoxville: Man, we didn’t even think the show would be on the air. This is all gravy.
Jeff Tremaine: No, we did not ever picture us doing a 3-D movie. If you would have told us that 10 years ago, we’d have laughed in your face.
BM: How do you feel about the success of the franchise?
Jeff Tremaine: I’m still shocked by it and to this day I pinch myself and laugh that we snuck in the back door and are here to stay.
BM: Why do think it continues to grow with the public?
Johnny Knoxville: I don’t know, it’s funny. I think it’s a real primal type of funny too. It’s slapstick and stupid, but it’s not mean-spirited and it’s real. It’s also the guys and the relationships. Above our stunts and pranks, people seem to really like the guys.
Jeff Tremaine: By chance we ended up with an extraordinary group of idiots. They all have strong personalities and as a group it becomes its own thing.
BM: Was anyone reluctant about doing another ‘Jackass’ movie?
Jeff Tremaine: I don’t think anyone was reluctant. Steve-O wondered if he could be around everybody and do it sober. He went sober two and half years ago and this was the first time he had been around everybody shooting again. And he got the best footage he’s ever gotten.
BM: Have you ever been permanently injured doing a stunt?
Johnny Knoxville: I’ve been injured so much and some of the injuries are permanent. On this film I got a concussion, whiplash, stitches in my hand, and a dislocated shoulder. A few years ago I broke my penis. Yeah. I was trying to back-flip a motorcycle and went 20 feet up in the air and came down and broke the handlebars off on my crotch. I still have to catheter twice a day with a big long tube.
BM: Has anyone ever turned a stunt down because they felt it was too dangerous?
Johnny Knoxville: We’re all willing to do the stunts. The only time we won’t is if the spirit isn’t right. If there’s a negative vibe going around the set, then we won’t do the stunt.
Jeff Tremaine: And that’s extremely rare. When we get the guys together, it’s usually gold.
BM: Are you ever worried you’re going to run out of ideas?
Johnny Knoxville: There are so many things in this film we didn’t get to. Ideas came easier in this movie than the other movies.
Jeff Tremaine: We have a master list of ideas we still haven’t gotten to.
BM: Do you have a cut-off of when you might stop doing stunts?
Johnny Knoxville: I never think like that. If it feels right, let’s do it. The Three Stooges did it until they were 60.
Jeff Tremaine: Although in the early days when we put him in old-man make-up it used to take three hours. Now it only takes about a half-hour.
Johnny Knoxville: Eventually you’re going to have to put me in young-man make-up.
BM: Did shooting in 3-D change anything drastic for you guys?
Johnny Knoxville: There was a bigger crew this time. Our cast and crew have been together for 10 years and this time we had new people on the set and the 3-D cameras took a little bit more time to set up.
Jeff Tremaine: The only thing I’d say was different was wrangling the guys and making sure it happened in front of the 3-D cameras versus just keeping up with the guys with the little handheld cameras.
Johnny Knoxville: We also had high-def cameras so if someone passed out in the corner we could shoot them in high-def and convert it later.
Jeff Tremaine: Yeah, we were prepared for it to go spontaneous but we did a good job at getting it all in 3-D.
BM: Since you were shooting in 3-D, did you feel more pressure to top your previous films?
Johnny Knoxville: The 3-D put it to the other level and took the pressure off how we were going to top Jackass 2. And when there’s no pressure, all you have to do is be funny. We never think about the franchise, we only think: What dumb shit can we do today?
Jeff Tremaine: If we had it in our heads that we had to top everything we’ve done, we wouldn’t get anywhere. The guys have gotten to a point that it’s so difficult to make each other laugh that you naturally go to another level just by being around each other. Our motivation is always to crack each other up.
BM: Do you feel like you have more competition with people on the Internet now than you did when you started?
Johnny Knoxville: We take inspiration from it. For the “Invisible Man” bit I was looking on the Internet and saw a picture of this Chinese artist who had painted himself into a background — you couldn’t see him. So I thought it would be good idea to do the same thing but inside a bull ring and then I’d become the not-so-invisible man to the bull.
Jeff Tremaine: We painted this beautiful cartoon scene with a rainbow and a tree and it looked awesome but the bull found him right away.
BM: How does your relationship with Paramount work?
Jeff Tremaine: The way it works is we come up with the title of an idea and write a paragraph describing it and then submit that to Paramount.
Johnny Knoxville: To their credit, they leave us alone. They don’t visit the set, mainly because they are too scared to, but also because no one really does what we do.
BM: What about the MPAA? Do they still give you trouble?
Jeff Tremaine: The MPAA is all about Chris [Pontius’s] penis and how long we can have it up on the screen.
Johnny Knoxville: Each time we release a movie it’s not like there’s a definitive thing you can’t do. It’s whoever is [rating you] and their standards.
BM: How do you decide what stays and goes for the final cut?
Jeff Tremaine: It takes showing it to people to know what’s going to make the movie and what’s not. We’ve got a pretty decent idea, but a lot of times it’s watching people react to see where it’s lulling.
Jackass 3-D is in theatres on October 15.
brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com
Top image: A scene from Jackass 3-D. Courtesy Paramount Pictures.
