CRAIG MCMORRIS' 'WE TRIED' | FULL MOVIE + INTERVIEW

 
Craig McMorris is no stranger to the camera. He's been filming video parts for years and he's a household name to the millions of Canadians who tuned into the Olympics. Despite having an open career path in broadcasting he's not interested in that noise. First and foremost he's a snowboarder set on making content that gets the people going.
We Tried is Craig's first take producing a video, its humble title is classic McMorris – underpromise and overdeliver.
Why'd you make this movie?
I've been really lucky my whole career, I was a contest kid for a long time and then I wanted to film. I got a couple of chances from John Swyston from Nuulife and then Torstein Horgmo with Shred Bots a number of years ago. He really brought me up and put me on the scene and I've been doing that for a few years and I was like, now it's time for me to do my own thing, separate myself and do my own projects. I wanted to see what it was like. I wanted to produce, I wanted to direct. I've been in broadcasting, snowboarding, and filmmaking for a number of years and I thought I could try my hand at it and that's really the reason that We Tried happened.
Why did you pick these riders to work with?
It was more like, this is who I'm filming with today, can I have some of these shots? You know, that kind of style so it's a really eclectic group of riders and the video centres around all the trips I did this winter. To say that I handpicked everybody isn't true, like Jordan Morse, he's from Utah, I never would have imagined he would have been in the film but he's got some of the best shots in the film. It’s organically the way it happened.

Sick. Involved are you in the process? Is this all on your shoulders?
Yes, every single day. I wake up, I call my editor and filmer. I was lucky enough to link with Sam Sosnowski who filmed and edited Anto Chamberland’s Real Snow part. He's the dopest dude and I watched them work and I got to work as part of the crew and I was like this is the dude. So he was the one who edited it. He did the most work I would say, but then everything like the song selections, clearing songs, getting budget. It was all on my shoulders and it's a lot of work and whoever makes their own movie I applaud you – because it sucks. It doesn't suck, that's not fair to say, it doesn't suck at all but it's hard, it's really hard.
How have the reactions been so far?
Literally, nobody's seen it, we did a little premiere in Aspen. So, maybe 50 people have seen it, and I'm not going to lie to you, I was about 12 out of 10 drunk when the movie ended, so I don't know what people thought.
[caption id="attachment_9587" align="aligncenter" width="640"] [o] Joseph Roby[/caption]I hate being at premiers personally. I usually just leave the room when the movie's playing and then I come back in. It's so weird, I just get so negative when I watch it on the screen, I'm like that's the dumbest, why didn't I do this, why didn't I do that, but it's already in there and I've watched it a million times. I'm happy with it but just for some reason at premieres, I get so weird.
You have a hectic schedule, especially this past winter, so much announcing and broadcast commentary, do you find it increasingly difficult to put parts together?
That was the hardest thing for me this year, I didn't snowboard for six weeks of the winter and winter is so short, it was really stressful all winter. I was wondering if it was really stupid of me to try to and do this but at the end of the day it all worked out.

No one sees you picking up a guitar and going full-time broadcaster. What's the motivation to keep snowboarding at the level you do?
It's the best thing in the world. I have the best job in the world. I'm down and I'm down to work even harder, because there’re so many freaking good snowboarders and there are so few dollars to go around. You know what I'm saying? So to continue my job I just want to film as much as I can, I want to be snowboarding as much as I can. I just love to do it, you know?
Yeah.
It's all I think about. Everything is towards filming a sick part or filming a sick video. Because at the end of the day, I just want to create something that when somebody watches it they're like yeah, I want to go snowboarding.
[caption id="attachment_9588" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Gap to Lip [o] Joseph Roby[/caption]When you were growing up, what was the video that you really fanned out on?
Wow, so many. I've watched so much snowboarding in my life. But to pick just one, Follow Me Around. That movie was amazing, it was incredible.
What are you proud of in this vid?
I'm proud of the diversity. That's what I think is the coolest part of this video, I don't care if you ride pow, if you're a pow dog until you die, you don't care about park or street riding or if you're a park rider or if you're just a street rider, there is something in the video that's the highest level you can possibly get in every single one of those disciplines in snowboarding. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the thing that I pride myself on the most is being as diverse a rider as possible. My movie is a representation of that.
[caption id="attachment_9589" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Boardslide [o] Scott Serfas[/caption]
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