Friday, August 01, 2008

Long Way Down

Went to see a special screening of Long Way Down in the theater last night before it's released on DVD. Follows Ewan McGregor and his friend Charley Boorman as they ride motorcycles from Scotland to South Africa. Favorite part was when Ewan visited the site of the original Star Wars film in Tunisia and stood next to his poster without being recognized by any of the many passing tourists.

Six degrees of separation: My documentary filmmaker friend John who I sometimes blog about was shooting for another program in Africa. He is a fan of the first film Long Way Round which followed the two as they circumnavigated the globe. Anyway, John was in an airport in Africa and saw Ewan and Charley at the end of the terminal, dressed for the ride. He shouted their names but couldn't get their attention.

Don't know if that really qualify as "six degrees..." but it's a fun story nonetheless. I recommend both series of films for some good vicarious travel.

5 comments:

John G said...

Oh I don't think I couldn't get their attention, I think they ignored me! I can't believe you saw a film about the trip? I have never heard of such a thing - is that playing in art house cinemas around the US?

I have been waiting patiently for them to release this thing in the US (I refuse to pay the shipping and dollar exchange rate). I saw it advertised on Nat Geo and tried to get someone to look it up so I could bootleg it while working and we can not find it in the library. Turns out it was to air on the UK Nat Geo channel (who knew they had one?). If I was smarter I would have tackled them in the airport and made the show! The series airs on the Fox reality channel soon (so my son tells me). I just talked to an Aussie from my last trip and he said it was not as good as the first one.

They never are...

Tom said...

They may have ignored you because they were picking Ewan's wife up from the airport... she joined them for a leg of the journey. Or they just didn't like the looks of you.

It was still good, just not as good as the original...

Anonymous said...

sounds cool. and scotland and africa in one trip? even cooler.

John G said...

It's running on Fox reality channel as we speak. Today they are running the old series and the premier of the new series (although I think it has been out a while in the UK). They have really progressed from this little mom and pop thing, to money machine with a zillion sponsors. This series could continue forever. The wife gave me the okay to try and get on one of these adventures. Fat chance...

Kim Ayres said...

We're currently watching "Long Way Round" on TV, and I've nearly finished reading "Long Way Down"