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Hitting the Apex

Hitting the Apex is the story of six fighters - six of the fastest motorcycle racers the world has ever seen - and of the fates that awaited them at the peak of the sport.

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.

 

Directed By Mark Neale

Cast
Brad Pitt - Narrator
Jorge Lorenzo
Marc Marquez
Dani Pedrosa
Valentino Rossi
Marco Simoncelli
Casey Stoner

Crew
Mark Neale - Writer & Director
Mark Neale, Jerry Chater, Bruce Ashley - Editors
Chris Norr, Grant Gee, Jan Zabeil - Directors of Photography
Enrico Bacchini, Steve Natt, Mark Neale - Camera Operators
tomandandy - Music
Wes Borland, Jay Logan, Erik Jourgensen
Damien Thompson, Tommy Neale, Mark Neale - Additional Music
Cameron Frankley - Sound Design and Mix
Mark Neale, Brad Pitt - Producers
Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Sarah Esberg, Ian MacLean - Executive Producers
Matt Flanders, Steve Natt - Co-producers

Year: 2015
Runtime: 138 minutes
Language: English
Production Notes: Hitting the Apex was filmed on location in Europe and the USA in 2013 and 2014.
Original HD footage shot on Canon C300, 5D and 7D.
The film was edited and completed in Los Angeles between April 2014 and May 2015.

It opened in cinemas in Britain and Italy in September 2015 and played in sixty cities across the USA and Canada in November.

International distribution is by Universal, North American distribution by the filmmakers.