So everyone showed up and I still remember seeing Tony for the first time and I remember connecting with him. There was a big contest in Florida at Kona Skatepark. The first time I met Tony, I had heard about him a lot because he also got put on the team when he was a little kid. We were part of the Bones Brigade, which was kind of a cool team to be on back then. Since I was 14, and Tony’s about a year younger than I am. How long had you known Tony at that point? And then he asked me to do that and I had no idea the significance of it, I was just stoked that he was bringing me in like that. And by the way, do you want to be in my game?” I remember thinking that everything was over for me. We ate together and he goes, “Rod, don’t even think about it. Anyway, he walks into the restaurant like a star and people are looking at him. I flew home and I’m thinking, “Should I quit skating? Is that a sign that I’m getting there in terms of age?” So I called up Tony because I didn’t really have anyone as a peer to talk to on that level. People are asking for autographs and I’m like, “Dude, I just broke my ankle, give me some space.” Like, broke. I’m laying on the ground and it didn’t even really hurt but I felt it break. I barely put my foot off my board, not even going that fast, and my ankle broke. I remember skating on this contraption and I was still warming up. Obviously he didn’t need to apologise.Īnd then I remember I went on tour in Chicago. He was bashful when he talked about his long and fruitful career as a professional skateboarder, and told me about the times he was “pretty much sucking” and apologising for his “belaboured story”. True to form, he was softly-spoken, humble and yet intensely passionate. When we spoke over a fuzzy, delayed international phone line, he was at home in California. Rodney Mullen was to celebrate his 54th birthday three days after our interview. Still, after all these years, his involvement in those video games is what he’s best known for. A pro since 1980, Rodney has founded and run multiple skate companies, filmed a handful of classic video parts and even done a Ted Talk with 3.8 million views. He literally invented the flat ground ollie, the kickflip, the heel flip, the 360 flip and a bunch of other tricks that are fundamental to how skateboarding looks today. One of those skaters was Rodney Mullen, a freestyler from Gainesville, Florida, who’s often referred to as the godfather of street skateboarding. This is the subject of Pretending I’m a Superman, a new documentary by Ludvig Gur about the rise of the game and the effect it had on those who were featured in it.
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