OUT IN THE STREET | THE MANBOYS
OUT IN THE STREETS | THE MANBOYS
Filming in the streets with The Manboys is exactly what you’d expect. Cold, difficult, fun. We have four guys that got along really well. Two of them were pushing hard and risking their health every time they strapped in. A steezy little brat who always has the words to make everybody laugh, and a smooth operator that shows up to chill with the crew and ends up with amazing clips.
Going from a web series to a full-length movie put a little extra pressure on the riders to produce high-quality footage. It showed in their work ethic; they made it happen every day. Even when the snow conditions were not the best, the vibes were always high. Especially when we hit the Mexican restaurant to have a few micheladas at the end of a good day. Bueno! —Mathieu Gibeault, Filmer & Editor
ANTO CHAMBERLAND
I’M A MANBOY?
I had always admired what the Manboys have been doing. I have a lot of respect for Mark and Rusty. I’ve known those guys as great people and it was cool to meet and work with these guys.
I wanted to work with our filmer Mat Gibo and I love Craig. I rode with Craig on both the Shred Bots projects, and we have been getting along really well. We were stoked to work together again with Manboys.
Jody was with DC before. We had him on the team when we filmed for Must Be Nice. I took care of him in Montreal.
This was my first time working with Mar. I've always had a lot of respect for him. He’s got it, the whole street and backcountry thing. Not a lot of people do that with good style and always looks great. We got along really well.
For the first time I had a real nice place to take everyone in. I bought a triplex in the fall and it has three bedrooms, so those guys actually had their room. It was a lot better than having them in my old apartment or crashing at my parents' back in the day. A hotel is fine, but staying at someone's place with room for stuff to dry and all that.. it was great.
There's so much stuff that goes down in the street. It would be great to take notes of all the fun shit that goes down. When it comes to the tricks, it's insane. I’ll remember every detail of every trick. If you tell me a trick that you liked, I can tell you the whole day, for sure.
“Some of this shit we tried and went down, I needed help. As much as I see a trick, or want to do a trick, sometimes it's really sketchy and pushing some boundaries. You want someone around you that is like, ‘You got this.’ As simple as that is, it's sick.”
THE SQUAD
It’s always fun, funny, and these guys’ work ethic is really good. There’s a lot of respect between the riders. There’s always so much help, that’s the best part about Manboys.
Jody brings fun. He makes us laugh all the time, until he has to drop and after he lands. But when he starts to drop and before he lands, he's the worst person in the world. The rest of the day he makes everyone have so much fun. The problem is he can't stop talking. If we have to scope for spots and ideas for features to hit, he's so annoying in the car. He can't shut up. We did tests trying to make him shut up for five or 10 minutes. It didn't work. He can't not talk. It's crazy. I thought it was pretty funny, I begged him to stop, man. It's never really necessary but it's very funny.
Craig is such a hard worker. It doesn't look like that. Every time you see him on camera he looks like he's acting dumb and being funny, but he works so hard. He's really helpful. Always going to support you. He's going to believe in you when you’re trying something. That helps mentally, to have someone believe in you. Some of this shit we tried and went down, I needed help. As much as I see a trick, or want to do a trick, sometimes it's really sketchy and pushing some boundaries. You want someone around you that is like, "You got this." As simple as that is, it's sick.
For Mark, he's so calm and he always brings the best out of you. It's so easy with him around. Never putting any pressure on anyone, never asking anyone to do anything. He's not going to ask you to help shovel his spot, but you want to because he's so helpful all the time. He's so there for everyone. His work ethic is an example for everyone—the way he works, the way he thinks. I really enjoyed that. He’s like, “I don't need any shots. I'm here because I like it.” Never putting pressure on himself. When he feels a spot he does it, I think that's great. In the end, he had great jib shots.
MARK SOLLORS
CAN’T QUIT THE STREET
When I grew up in Kelowna, BC, it would snow in the city. So December, January, we would go and hit rails. The snow would melt in the city and we'd hike around Big White Resort and just try to ride powder as much as I could. It's the way I've always known. December, January, there's snow in the city, go and ride rails in urban spots. Then we head to the backcountry. It's fun being out there with your friends doing that kind of stuff.
I don't take riding in the streets too serious, because it's hard to keep up with those kids, man. They're so damn good now. If it ever gets to the point where I'm embarrassing myself in the streets, maybe I'll stop, but I'm still having so much going out with the crew. I'm going to keep doing it, that's what I want to do.
Really, this winter I was the wildcard because I'd never filmed with Craig or Anto before. I went into it laidback style. I went on my first trip in December, and being the new guy, I took a step back and just helped them as much as I could. My first time back in the streets in a while, and I just kind of played it as mellow as I could. It actually made it more fun. I didn't have the stress of, “Okay, today I need to get one of my best rail shots.” It was more, “I want to go help Anto get the best shot he possibly can for Real Snow and hopefully I'll get something too.” It was just low key, low stress, we were having a good time.
THE BOYS
Jody is 100 per cent style master. Anything that kid does is so good. He's the definition of it's not what you do, it's how you do it. Somebody who doesn't have style could do a whatever trick and that's not a shot. Keep trying. You know? Then Jody will go do that same thing and it'd be the best thing I've seen on a snowboard. It sounds weird but less is more with him. It's so sick, nobody else can get away with that.
Craig is a tech master. He works so hard, and he's such a good boarder. He did that gap at Toe Jam on that railing against the cement ledge, I never would have thought you could do that. So wildcard. Just the idea, “I think I'm going to jump from up here and land Toe Jam 50-50 against that thing.” What the hell are you talking about? You're going to break your shins. Craig has this creative side that I never would have even guessed.
“If it ever gets to the point where I'm embarrassing myself in the streets, maybe I'll stop, but I'm still having so much going out with the crew.”
Anto. My God. He’s a workhorse. He has every tool. He has every spot. He has everything planned out, and if there's something wrong with the spot, he knows how to fix it. He is such a gem. He's so rad. He is Montreal. Dude, we come out there, we all stay at his house. We’ll just show up with our boards ready to go. He takes care of us.
Aside from them all being really good dudes and non-stop comedy, it doesn't take away from their work ethic. You know, that's why I love it. I really like chilling with these guys. I'm really hyped on this crew. I like who they are as people. Even if there was no snowboarding involved, I'd still be like, "Yeah, let's go to Montreal together. We'll go hang out for a week."
CRAIG MCMORRIS
FANNING ON ANTO
The Manboys movie wouldn't have happened if it weren’t for Anto. Every rail shot is because of Anto. It's so gnarly, man. He’s the hardest worker, good vibes. If you’re hitting a feature, "You've got this, try again. You can do this." And him and our filmer, Mat Gibo, this is one of my favourite things. They'll tell you to your face, "Yo, that sucked. Do it again." You know? I feel like the quality of footage is because of them, too. You don't want to do it again, you don't want to try that scary trick again, but you know that you can get it a little better.
We'd go to some crazy spots, this one spot we rented a bobcat and built a landing because it was so frickin’ massive. Anto got this huge Handplant Wallride and then the sun went down. Jody and I were going to hit in the next day. I remember going to sleep that night so scared, I couldn't sleep. I was so scared because it's like three stories of rail-to-wall-to-death. We showed up the next morning and the city had cleared the entire landing away…"Oh shit." To be honest with you, I was kind of stoked.
THE JODY SHOW
It's non-stop commentary. He's calling it like he sees it. His views are a little skewed sometimes, but he's the man. He's so, so funny.
The first trip I went on with Jody, I picked him up in Whistler, we drove to 100 Mile House, BC, he looked in the back of the truck, says, "My board got stolen out of the back of your truck." His board was stolen? We've been in the truck the whole time, how could this happen?
Get there. I hit one feature once, got the shot and then we drove home. We didn't get home till 2 a.m. But his board was sitting in his driveway with his boots covered in a little layer of snow. He just left it sitting there. Totally forgot them. It's crazy.
Jody has one of the best parts of The Manboys Movie, in my opinion. The vibe, the trick selection... everything, the style is so good. I feel like maybe he doesn’t think he can do things by the way he's talking. "That's not even going to be in my part, that's so stupid, I hate this." Anto's like, "I'll bet you $20 that shot will be in your part. It will be a good shot and be in your part." And he's like, "Alright, I'll do it." Every feature, Anto would bet on this and all the tricks are in his part. When you read this, hopefully Jody's paid Anto a bunch of money. It was good bets for Anto to take.
UBER AND OUT!
Funny thing, Uber. Every time my flight was booked out of Montreal, we’d always be hitting a spot right when it would get dark on the last day. So I’d have my board bag at the spot, open with my luggage bag there, riding. Get the trick, as soon as I land, take my snowboard off, unpack, change and then Uber would be there to take me to the airport. When I did that Nose Pressed Tame Dog on that arch thing in the video, the Uber girl was in the car watching me hit the feature, then I landed and then I was like, "Alright, let's go!"
“This concrete barrier and huge square down bar. Anto's on the side of the highway with a snow blower, blowing over the barrier into the landing of the thing. There's a homeless dude that's living there. He’s got a mansion built out of tarps. He finally comes out and says, "Hey guys, good luck, man, hopefully you get a shot." He was super stoked that we were hitting this, really stoked. And we were airing over his house onto a rail. I thought that was so weird.”
JODY WACHNIAK
NO WARM-UP MARK
It's so funny with Mark, because Mark will sit at home and be like, "I don't think I'm going to ride rails anymore." I'll say something like, “You know what, Mark? Maybe you shouldn't. I always watch you in the park and you don't do anything. Occasionally you do a 50-50. You know what? Maybe you're washed up on rails." Then every year he goes out and he just films five or six retarded hammers that aren't just mailed in. Any street rider is going to look at it like, "Mad respect, dude. That was sick". He always comes out with guns blazing. Stacks hammers and he's so good. He's got such good jib style for someone who never, ever practices, ever. It's always impressive to see him go out there and just stack footage like he's a kid who's been working for it.
I want to keep doing what Sollors does: backcountry and rails. That's something our crew all rides, jumps and rails, which is really cool. It's not like one of them is just a kooky dude on a sled who's like a hazard out in the backcountry. All four of us are pretty good sledders, too. If something went wrong anywhere, we're all adults when it comes to decisions. Streets or backcountry, to have a crew that you can rely on to get you out of wherever you are safely. I really like filming with this crew for that reason.
G.I. ANTO
Anto is a super human. I used to play with a lot of G.I. Joes. Anto is the snowboarding G.I. Joe. He's a firefighter. "Yeah, I saved a few people's lives, put out a burning building, and now I'm just going to Back-lip this triple kink and then go home and bang my hot girlfriend and buy another house." Anto, how do you do it?! How do fit all of that in your life? I'm a “Canadian pro.” You're a global athlete on DC and you're a full-time firefighter.
Then if you ask him for something, "Yo, Anto. I'm getting in at 3 a.m.” He's like, No worries, I'll pick you up, easy. He puts me in a headlock, "Yeah, I get it, you're really strong."
Then he's got his phone with every single spot in Montreal GPS’d with a photo. Then, just because they're all awesome, "Okay, Jody, are you down to go to this spot tomorrow? We want to make sure that you get something you're happy with."
I'm been filming with Anto, on and off, for like five years. He's like my French brother, in a way.
For the record. Anto's Handplant into that massive wall in Quebec was ridiculous. We built a backcountry jump into it and made a huge landing. It's a four-story building; it's retarded. When we're standing on top and he's like, "Yeah, I think I'm just going to drag my hand here," and I'm saying, "Really? I think we should go home."
We rented a Bobcat. That's how serious this shit is. We rented a Bobcat. When it got dropped off, the dude, Fred, is all, "Here's your Bobcat. What're you using it for?" I was like, "Don't worry about it, dude, just get out of here. You didn't see nothing." He's, "Okay… sure… what are you guys doing?"
"We're filming a huge Handplant thing and no one can know about it!" Oh, it was crazy.
ANDY IS RIGHT
That was really fun to have Andy Wright come out to shoot photos with us. He's super American. Really wanted to watch sports everywhere he went. It was football season and none of us watch football, so we all pretended. It'd be Craig and Anto keen to stack clips, which is awesome. "Should we go shoot another spot?" Andy's like, "Fuck no, dude! Let's go watch football and chill out!" Every night. And he's this legendary photographer saying, “Yeah, go and shovel all night? No, no, no, we're not doing that. I've been doing this shit for years, guys, and I'm not letting you do that on my time.” It was super funny. He was really fun to shoot with.
Those guys are all awesome. That's sweet, too. That we're all good friends and they're really good at snowboarding. We all feed off of each other, for sure. Because they're all gnarlier than I am, I go for it a bit more. Gotta pick your battles.
“When we're standing on top and he's like, ‘Yeah, I think I'm just going to drag my hand here…’ and I'm saying, ‘Really? I think we should go home.’”
