MotoGP film-maker Mark Neale is back with Hitting the Apex. And he has brought another Hollywood A-lister to the partty, as he tells bikesportnews.com

Documentary and film-maker Mark Neale is kind of his own worst enemy. His last two films, Faster and Fastest, captured beautifully the essence of MotoGP, its protagonists and its colour. Neale’s next instalment, Hitting the Apex, follows on from Fastest but tragedy struck when Marco Simoncelli was killed at Sepang, meaning Neale had to have some tough interviews. On top of that, Casey Stoner up and retired too but in some ways they make, not detract from, the story.

Bikesport News: Where did the idea for Hitting the Apex come from?
Mark Neale: Well it was very simple in the sense that when I finished Fastest I immediately started to try and make this one as I felt it was the obvious thing to keep doing this. I had done it before and I wanted to keep telling the story. I did not see Marc Marquez coming at that time, I didn’t realise what an impact he’d have, but seeing Simoncelli riding…. And being in a position of knowing the riders and having contacts to allow me hope to make a film, I simply went for it.
Some people will say why isn’t Ewan McGregor narrating, but Ewan is not a film producer; Brad Pitt is and he has a production company and he works very closely with me. Especially in the edit this year. So how can I make a film and trust this to work, especially with the story told, Marco Simoncelli’s death was a focal part of it and so very much because of that I wanted to make it a better film than previous ones - although I love the other ones as well.
But the human dimension of this, and then the extraordinary situation of having Rossi fail but then start to come back; and Marquez arrive; and you’ve got Lorenzo and Pedrosa there; and Casey Stoner quitting at the top. I mean it was such an extraordinary set of circumstances. And I wanted to spend more time on it and it took a long time to do it. And that’s all, the motivation is quite simple.

BSN: When I watched it I recognised that voice – Brad Pitt. How did the connection come around? Did you ask him, did he approach you?
MN: A lot of people will be quite surprised. Brad actually suggested Ewan narrate it and I would have been very happy with that, but obviously when you are dealing with companies like Dorna and Universal, logically they will want Brad. But for everybody that wants the sports film to reach a bigger audience it does help to have him. I called his office in early 2012 and I called them again and then I got an answer in late 2012 and he was very busy, he has tonnes of projects all the time, so it wasn’t something I counted on. So we all knew he was interested but it wasn’t a done deal until the end of last year. But that was great. It gave me time and a bit more money to finish the film; the main thing is having so much time as you are working with so much material. I mean hundreds and hundreds of hours of material, so I think I’ve spent around 5000 hours just editing.

BSN: Sitting in a dark room?
MN: Yeah it is, it’s got a window though. We ended up at Brad’s office because you’d go crazy editing, so I actually moved into different people’s houses. I didn’t stay at my place the whole time. There were two other editors. Jerry Chater who was on it for four and a half months and then Bruce Ashley who worked on it for three months this year. The other months I was on it on my own and you do go mad. If a friend had a spare room in a house I’d go and work there for a month to have a change and some human company.

BSN: How long did it take you from start to finish?
MN: Three years. If you factor in the amount of money you have to do quite a few key deals with Dorna first then Universal, then from the day we started shooting was March 10th but I’d been working on it several months before then. Three years. Two and a half years for production and finishing, which isn’t bad for a film.

BSN: Is it easy dealing with those six guys and PR or does it get difficult sometime?
MN: It is difficult because they are so busy and there are PR machines. You can’t just talk to them. Honestly, if I could just call each of them I am sure it would be really easy but you can’t do that. When they give you their time they are very gracious. Rossi invited me to his ranch and a lot of time we were there for most of the day and the day before, which is extraordinary as everyone knows he guards his time, which is understandable.
It’s the process, it is very time consuming. I went to see Marc Marquez three time, Dani Pedrosa three times and Jorge Lorenzo three times. They gave me a lot of time – and Casey as well, although we only seen him twice. The second time Brad Pitt and I introduced Casey Stoner by Skype in February – I haven’t told anyone that - because Brad asked nearly all the questions and we talked for 45-minutes, an hour or something.
Brad Pitt knows his stuff; he really knows the subject and really is that huge a fan. It says a lot for him, we sat down and had a couple of beers and talked to Casey Stoner for an hour and brought some really special moments for us all. That was at that point, I was two years into the project where you are running along and I haven’t got a decent interview with Rossi or Casey Stoner at all. There’s always that uncertainty, that makes it…you know you never think about that when you see it finished. Half the time you are thinking: ‘God what am I going to do, how am I going to do this?’

BSN: You spend half the time banging your head against the wall, how am I going to get these guys?
MN: Yeah, really, once you do get them they are great and that is one of the great things of the film is how good they come across. I think that is one of the great strengths of the film. I got to know them a bit, they would answer any question. I wanted to delve into things, dig deeper than before, as you are always trying to do, to get further inside and understand it more and communicate better, what it’s like and the human side is important.

BSN: What was your high point of the whole thing?
MN: Finishing it. Honestly, and the moment that felt most special and difficult was speaking with Marco’s dad. There were a lot of special moments.

BSN: I can see why. Thank you.

Where do you see that then?

Get closer than ever before to understanding who these men are and what drives them to do what they do. Join these two-wheeled warriors in their fight to conquer the World Championship, where the race never ends, and nothing matters but HITTING THE APEX - released in cinemas from September 2 featuring a Q&A with director Mark Neale, and on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on September 7. For more information go to http://hittingtheapexfilm.com/