Skateboarding legend turned award-winning filmmaker Stacy Peralta’s (“Dogtown and Z Boys”) latest docu-m e n t a r y, “ R i d i n g Giants,” pays homage to the fearless athletes who brave the world’s biggest swells. Peralta, an avid surfer from Santa Monica, spoke recently about a life spent riding boards, and his reincarnation as a Hollywood mover and shaker.
QUESTION: From poor skate rat to award-winning movie director. Did you ever dream your life would turn out like this?
STACY PERALTA: Never, in a million years, did I ever think I’d wind up here. The circumstances we grew up in didn’t allow us to think like that. The notion that the choices we made were wrong was constantly being reinforced. None of us ever had any reason to believe that our lifestyle would someday be popular.
Q: They just wrapped shooting on “Lords of Dogtown,” a dramatic feature inspired by your documentary “Dogtown and Z Boys.” Besides you writing the film and Tony Alva playing a small role, were the original Z Boys involved?
SP: None of the kids who played us in the movie could really match what we did footwise, so both Tony and myself had to stand in for ourselves in some skate scenes. It was really funny.
Q: “Riding Giants” is sure to draw comparisons to another recent surf flick, “Step Into Liquid.” How are the two films different?
SP: I think “Riding Giants” falls more under the heading of “documentary.” I didn’t see “Step Into Liquid,” but from what I understand it’s more of a traditional travelogue through surfing. What I was more interested in doing was giving more of a historical perspective on surfing.
Q: There’s a strong element of territoriality in the sport. Do you think diehard surfers might bristle at the unwanted attention from outsiders that comes along with films such as yours?
SP: Even the hardcore surfers want understanding brought to the thing they do. Everybody wants respect, you know. And when you grow up surfing the way I did — where it was looked down upon as kind of an outcast thing or an antisocial choice — at some point you want the people in your life to know what it is you do, and why you do it, and that it is not a frivolous pursuit. Now, do surfers want more surfers in the water? No, they don’t.
Q: Are you concerned at all that some yahoo might see your movie and kill himself trying to drop into a 50-footer?
SP: Not at all, because it’s just too dangerous. Some guy might look at it from the beach and say, “Yeah, I can do this.” But the second they paddle out there, they will experience a moment of clarity that will fundamentally change everything they were thinking up to that point (laughs).
Q: There are three primary subjects of “Riding Giants” — pioneers Greg Noll and Jeff Clark, and reigning king Laird Hamilton. What separates these iconic surfers from the rest?
SP: These guys have put their footprints in places others haven’t. They broke through that ceiling in their own head that said, “I can’t do this,” and realized “I can do this, and I will do this.”
Q: The film dubs Hamilton the best big wave surfer of all time. Do you anticipate any backlash from other superstars in the surf community, especially given that he’s also a producer on the project?
SP: I don’t think so. In fact, I was very careful about that. I questioned so many people in making this film, and they not only think Laird is the best big wave surfer, they think he’s the best surfer in the world.
Q: What makes him so great? SP: He has a very deep relationship with his destiny. Riding those waves is so much a part of his identity, that it goes way beyond fear or desire. It’s what he is. What he was made to be.
BONUS QUESTIONS: Q: What can you tell us about Greg Noll, perhaps the sport’s all-time most colorful character?
SP: He’s one of America’s greatest subcultural heroes. The general public doesn’t know who he is, though, because they know so little about the real history of surfing.
Q: In the ’80s, you worked as an assistant director on “Gleaming the Cube,” “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol” and “Thrashin.” You have a favorite?
SP: That’s a really tough question. For some I want to say “Police Academy 4” (laughs). It’s not exactly a stellar trio though.
Q: The director of “Lord of Dogtown,” Catherine Hardwicke (“Thirteen”), seems an interesting choice.
SP: We knew that whoever was going to sign on to direct the film was going to get involved in kind of a cauldron of testosterone, and Catherine was the perfect chemical ingredient to diffuse all that.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 9, 2004. Read the original PDF.