THRILLS AND SPILLS OF MOTOGP HIT THE BIG SCREEN
New Zealand audiences will get a rider’s-eye view of the thrilling, terrifying reality of the MotoGP world championship when Fastest, a new documentary feature from award-winning director Mark Neale, speeds into cinemas.
Sequel to the international petrol head sensation Faster and narrated by actor and bike enthusiast Ewan McGregor, Fastest captures a pivotal moment in the sport.
Chasing his 10th world title, the legendary Valentino Rossi runs into the toughest challenge of his life: a wave of ferociously fast young riders including Australian Casey Stoner, a horrific, leg-shattering crash at the Italian grand prix, an agonising comeback 41 days later, and the question every rider must face. Who’s fastest now?
Shot around the world during the 2010 and 2011 world championship seasons, Fastest charts the highs and lows of the MotoGP world, including Rossi’s career-threatening crash at Mugello, his spectacular return to racing at the German Grand Prix, and his debut on the Ducati in 2011.
Director Neale said he set out to capture “the ecstasy and the terror of life at the very highest level of motorcycle racing”. Fastest also prominently features the late great Marco Simoncelli who sadly lost his life in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Neale commented “I think that the grief we feel is the measure of the joy that Simoncelli brought. An emotional equation: the greater the presence, the more terrible the absence. Look at him in ‘Fastest’. It’s obvious why everybody loved him. He was, truly, one of a kind.” A UK native, Neale has won multiple awards for his documentary films including Faster (2004) and The Doctor, The Tornado & The Kentucky Kid (2006).