It was nice and sunny today on the set of “The Grind” in Malibu, CA. The movie is set to shoot for an estimated 4 weeks with several pro-skaters set to make appearances as stunt doubles. I caught up with Brian Patch, Bucky Lasek and Neil Hendrix on the set today. I also ran into Preston Lacy from the movie Jackass. Brian Patch arrived from Sydney, Australia at 7 in the morning to shoot his stunt. Brian and I spent the day hanging out, waiting for the directors to yell “Action!” With our own personal masseuse courtesy of the director, I’d have to say the set was pretty plush. Free food, free massage and not much work are always nice amenities. When I arrived at 7 in the morning, four of the main actors were shooting their reactions to a stunt to be performed by Brian Patch. In the scene, Brian was going to be towed in on a quad to make a jump off of a big kicker landing into some porta-potties. About five porta-potties, which were on hydraulics, were to be knocked over, except for the last one, which was occupied by Preston Lacy, whose massive weight stops the domino effect. The scene was shot in seven different sequences. Brian didn’t make his jump until 2:30 in the afternoon. The shoot went well.

Meanwhile, Neil Hendrix got to play a Warner Bros. corporate hot shot. Wearing a suit and a gray wig, Neil would do the skateboarding, while the cameras cut to the actor doing all the talking and getting all the girls. The actor ended up getting mobbed by 8 girls in bikinis telling him he was a cool skater. It was pretty funny, especially due to the fact that it was now five o’clock in the evening and way too cold to be dressed like that. Bucky Lasek was also there, however I didn’t get the chance to see him skate. He must have been there for a speaking role. I did, however get to sneak into his make-up trailer and get a shot of him having his face powdered, which was pretty funny. I still don’t know when “The Grind” will be coming out to theaters, but it looks good and they have Morgan Stone working with the skaters to make it as realistic as possible.