September 26
The audience howls, shrieks with disgust and stares in silence as daredevil Steve-O bounces several stories in the air, buckled into the toilet seat of a used (and very full) Porta Potty attached to oversized bungee cords. It feels like human waste splatters not just Steve-O, but also the audience.
That’s because we’re at a seven-minute preview of “Jackass 3D” at Paragon Theaters, donning 3-D glasses that make the movie feel real- a little too real for some.
But 10 years after the debut of “Jackass” on MTV and more than four years since the franchise’s last feature film, the shock value is exactly what fans expect and want from headman Johnny Knoxville and his troupe of professional exhibitionists.
As the enthused audience leaves the theater with signed photos in hand, Knoxville and longtime “Jackass” director Jeff Tremaine nurse cans of Bud Light while spilling the deets on the 3-D flick to The Miami Hurricane.
The Miami Hurricane: How does it feel for “Jackass 3D” to finally hit the big screen?
Johnny Knoxville: It’s an odd feeling because it feels like we were just shooting it yesterday, and I wish we were still shooting it. But we’re very excited. We feel like this is our best “Jackass” film.
TMH: Because the film was shot in 3-D, did you try anything that fans might not be used to?
JK: 98 percent of the ideas we wrote just to be funny in 2-D. If it’s not funny in 2-D, it’s not going to be funny in 3-D.
Jeff Tremaine: We definitely wanted to stay true to the brand. We were nervous about making it in 3-D, just thinking that it might change our process. We weren’t open to that. We did some tests with different companies and we found [one] that could keep up with us so we didn’t have to change anything [and] could shoot it how we wanted to.
TMH: What was the worst injury on set?
JK: We had a bunch. [James] Lemus blew out his shoulder and had to have surgery on his shoulder and hand. I had a whiplash, concussion, I dislocated my shoulder, I had stitches in my hand.
JT: Steve-O got his nose broken pretty bad.
TMH: You guys are celebrating 10 years, a decade of “Jackass.” How do you keep it fresh creatively?
JK: I feel like we write better ideas now than when we began.
JT: Yeah, to be honest, we didn’t shoot more bits this time. But it was harder to kick bits out of this movie than it ever has been. We’ll make “Jackass 3.5.” With the last movie, we made 2.5 with the things that just didn’t make number two. In this one, we have so many bits that didn’t make the movie. I think it’s because either our ideas are better or we’re just better at executing it.
JK: Our ideas are better. We had so many bits that we didn’t even get to film [for “Jackass 3D”]- great bits, which I’m still f***ing pissed about.
JT: I think part of it is that, look, we only do these things every four years, so you start bursting at the seems to get the guys back together.
The 3-D Jackass reunion debuts this Thursday.
Nick Maslow may be contacted at nmaslow@themiamihurricane.com.