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BB Bastidas: It’s a film about kids from where I live in Oceanside, California. It’s not a "skate movie". I mean, sure, pretty much everyone who's making it and is in it skates, but that’s just the culture here. It’s more about the characters than it is about skateboarding, which is just part of the culture in southern California – like surfing. Like, if we were in Texas I'm sure the culture would revolve around football and barbecues, you know?
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Well, I'd been thinking about doing a film for a while, and it just seemed like the next step for me, as I made a short film for DGK in 2013 and it felt really natural. I've been talking about making Joseph with Rowan for about a-year-and-a-half, then I just got my shit together and now we’re here. So you cast Rowan as Joseph. How much skating does he do in the movie, and how are his acting skills?
There are a few scenes of him skating. Rowan is a really natural person, and that comes off in the film. He gets better at acting every time we film a scene.How do your friends feel, being directed by you? Do they shut up when you scream into the megaphone or do they disobey you?
[Laughs] I don’t have a megaphone, but now that I think of it, that would be rad. Yeah, everyone’s pretty easy to work with. Sometimes at the end of the day they start to get kinda over it, so you just need to try and get stuff as fast as you can.
I'd imagine you end up partying a fair bit on set.
I'd say it’s 50/50. Sometimes it’s a party and there's drinking, smoking and all that. But other times I'm amazed how professional they can all be.Do you film stuff while you’re high, like Dennis Hopper used to?
Well, there’s a fine line of drinking and smoking that can take place before it’s too late and you’re like, "Oh fuck, they’re all way too drunk and stoned to do this." So yeah, I’ll have to sometimes be like, "Hey, put that twist out for a sec," or, like, "You guys need water?" It’s most likely not your typical film set.
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Thrashin’ is sick! I guess I would go with that. Is Kids considered a skate film ‘cos they skate in it? If so, Kids is my favourite.

I mention films like Gummo, Kids and A Clockwork Orange because of their unique storytelling, rather than mentioning "skate films" like Street Dreams or Grind, because those movies are presumably like, "WE SKATE AND THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT SKATING." Which, in my opinion, is corny. Like in the movie Kids, it’s about some skaters and their daily lives and everyone in between. You know, it’s not ramming it down your throat – the fact that they skate. But to answer the question – yeah, they may lose their mind from time to time.Figgy, who’s also the guitarist in Harsh Toke, is doing some music for the film, along with Dylan Donovan from Sacri Monti. What’s their sound like?
They’ve both sent me little recordings this week and both sound rad. I give them songs that I like the vibe of, then we meet later and watch parts of the film and try to come to a vibe we all like. I’ve heard rough edits of what him and Dylan have and it sounds similarly heavy and rad. We’re just getting all the songs in line, but after that track is laid, Nato [from The Drowning Men] will play with it, too. He's in charge of scoring the film.
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Skateboarding is based on creativity, so most people do other creative things outside of skating. When Figgy’s not on his board he's playing guitar non-stop; most skaters are very creative people in general, so yes, I believe there is a strong relationship there.

I don’t think skating and sports share anything in common other than the fact that it’s physical.How has your involvement in skate culture affected your approach to filming something like this?
The attitude of, "Fuck it – I'm going to try this, and if it works, rad, and if I blow it, well, I guess that can be kinda rad, too."What have been the toughest things to film so far?
[Laughs] Holy shit – it was the first time we ever filmed. It was out of control. First off, I don't think anyone knew what was going on. It was hectic, and the actual scene in the film was hectic, too.How was it fucked up?
It was a scene where Rowan and Shaun’s characters go buy some weed off Figgy’s character, and the house they go to was just full of the crazy people who'd be at a flophouse. Everyone played the part that day and shit was just hectic. When we finished shooting, it was night time and Figgy was dressed all crazy from filming that day, and he stubbed his toe skating barefoot – I think he'd been drinking all day while filming and was bleeding all over the place. Me and him were sitting in the alley waiting for a friend to come outside to go to a bar, and a cop stopped in front of us and said there was a report of a fight at the bar we were about to go to. And Figgy looked like a crazy person, all bloody. I was like, "Oh shit, there’s no way this cop is going to believe that he's dressed like this for a film and is all bloody from skating." Somehow, we got off the hook.
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