Hitting the Apex

Written and directed by Mark Neale

Narrated by Brad Pitt

Starring: Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa,

Valentino Rossi, Marco Simoncelli, Casey Stoner

IMDB rating 8.3

‘A masterwork of motorsports filmmaking’

 - Charles Fleming, Los Angeles Times.

STORY

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW?

by Mark Neale

From FASTER onwards, I’ve made each MotoGP film thinking that it might be the last.  There was never a big plan. It was always the same approach: give it everything you’ve got and see what happens. And if you get to make another one, try to make it better

Over the years, as we’ve gone about the business of trying to make ‘the next one’, there have always been rumors floating around of other much bigger MotoGP productions in the works - TV series, feature films - but the Hollywood movie or Netflix series has yet to materialize. (I am among those who have tried.)

With Hitting the Apex,  we set out to make an epic with the smallest budget of all the films, and we managed to pull it off (strange but true - the budgets, always under a million dollars, got smaller on every production).

Passion (or madness) paid off.  We ended up working with Brad Pitt and his colleagues at Plan B.  He came onto the project as a producer, as well as to narrate the film, out of love for the sport and also for filmmaking.

Brad worked closely with me and my editors, offering ideas and giving us the time to get it right. There is a bond between filmmakers and there is a bond between bikers. Both were in play here. It made for a unique experience and a film we’re all proud of.