he idea for the film came from Lucas Oil’s own Kelli Gunn, according to Ali Afshar a Forrest Films producer and a supporting actor in the film. (Forrest Films is owned by Forrest Lucas, the namesake of both the studio and the oil company.)
“We always like to talk about stories that we’d really like to tell, and Kelli said, ‘We should do a story about a veteran and somehow incorporate it into a motocross event,” Afshar explains. “And since Lucas Oil is heavily involved in the AMA Pro Motocross series, that was a huge plus. So our creative team began piecing together what we’re all about: pro-America, pro-farmer, pro-military, pro-motorsports, and just the concept of always doing the right thing.
“So the idea soon emerged of having this motocross racer who decides to follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps into the military, giving up this budding career and possibly becoming this big-time pro to serve his country instead.”
While serving in Afghanistan, Bennett finds himself back on motorcycles—only this time navigating hostile territory on combat missions—and his fellow Army Rangers quickly realize that he has exceptional motorcycling skills. Bennett and a fellow soldier are ambushed, and he’s badly injured by an IED. Upon his return stateside, he learns that his father is behind on the mortgage of the family farm and soon decides that a return to professional racing—despite a doctor’s warning about his injured leg, as well as his wife’s protests—is the best hope they have to keep the family homestead. Bennett’s wife, Sophie (played by Allison Paige of TV’s The Flash) finally comes around, telling Cyrus, “If we’re really going to do this, you are crew chief, I am team manager.”
It’s an interesting and believable plot, Bennett having once made a choice to quit racing to serve his country, and then getting back into racing for his family.
“If you watch any of our movies, you will see that we like real, organic storylines,” says Afshar, who plays Cyrus, Bennett’s buddy and mechanic. “Whether it’s American Wrestler, which stars Oscar winner Jon Voigt, or Pray for Rain with Jane Seymour, or Running Wild with Sharon Stone, all of our movies have some kind of real, grounded truth to them.”
And hasn’t that always been the holdup with making a decent motocross-related movie—finding a believable storyline? Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle made riding dirt bikes seem like a bad video game. Supercross: The Movie was just plain bad. And while Winners Take All is an eighties cult classic, its Team Tornado storyline and demolition-derby race action can be hard to watch. Arguably the most believable motocross movie to date is the Disney Channel’s Motocrossed, which was about a girl good enough to race with the boys, though she has to hide her gender to do it.
“Storytelling is interesting because you have to find a balance,” Afshar says. “You can make a movie about anything from motocross to underwater basket weaving, but it’s the actual story that counts. And I think we really got it right on this one.”
he idea for the film came from Lucas Oil’s own Kelli Gunn, according to Ali Afshar a Forrest Films producer and a supporting actor in the film. (Forrest Films is owned by Forrest Lucas, the namesake of both the studio and the oil company.)
“We always like to talk about stories that we’d really like to tell, and Kelli said, ‘We should do a story about a veteran and somehow incorporate it into a motocross event,” Afshar explains. “And since Lucas Oil is heavily involved in the AMA Pro Motocross series, that was a huge plus. So our creative team began piecing together what we’re all about: pro-America, pro-farmer, pro-military, pro-motorsports, and just the concept of always doing the right thing.
“So the idea soon emerged of having this motocross racer who decides to follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps into the military, giving up this budding career and possibly becoming this big-time pro to serve his country instead.”
While serving in Afghanistan, Bennett finds himself back on motorcycles—only this time navigating hostile territory on combat missions—and his fellow Army Rangers quickly realize that he has exceptional motorcycling skills. Bennett and a fellow soldier are ambushed, and he’s badly injured by an IED. Upon his return stateside, he learns that his father is behind on the mortgage of the family farm and soon decides that a return to professional racing—despite a doctor’s warning about his injured leg, as well as his wife’s protests—is the best hope they have to keep the family homestead. Bennett’s wife, Sophie (played by Allison Paige of TV’s The Flash) finally comes around, telling Cyrus, “If we’re really going to do this, you are crew chief, I am team manager.”
It’s an interesting and believable plot, Bennett having once made a choice to quit racing to serve his country, and then getting back into racing for his family.
“If you watch any of our movies, you will see that we like real, organic storylines,” says Afshar, who plays Cyrus, Bennett’s buddy and mechanic. “Whether it’s American Wrestler, which stars Oscar winner Jon Voigt, or Pray for Rain with Jane Seymour, or Running Wild with Sharon Stone, all of our movies have some kind of real, grounded truth to them.”
And hasn’t that always been the holdup with making a decent motocross-related movie—finding a believable storyline? Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle made riding dirt bikes seem like a bad video game. Supercross: The Movie was just plain bad. And while Winners Take All is an eighties cult classic, its Team Tornado storyline and demolition-derby race action can be hard to watch. Arguably the most believable motocross movie to date is the Disney Channel’s Motocrossed, which was about a girl good enough to race with the boys, though she has to hide her gender to do it.
“Storytelling is interesting because you have to find a balance,” Afshar says. “You can make a movie about anything from motocross to underwater basket weaving, but it’s the actual story that counts. And I think we really got it right on this one.”
ALI Afshar
ALI Afshar
fshar has been around motorcycles since his family emigrated to the U.S. from Iran back in the late seventies and the family bought some land in Northern California with room for him and his older brother, Pasha, to ride dirt bikes. As a matter of fact, Pasha still rides almost every weekend.
“If you can take that truth, that feeling you get from something like riding motorcycles with your family, and combine it with a true, heartfelt story, that’s a working formula,” he offers. “It’s like Forrest Lucas has said about all of our movies: we want you to shed a tear but leave with a smile. We think there’s a lot of families out there looking for content like this—stories about the American way of life, stories that bridge the coasts and show true Americana. That’s why we think people will really like Bennett’s War.”
One of the things that has tripped up filmmakers when it comes to motocross is how exactly to portray racing in a genuine and authentic way. It’s such a core sport that it’s easy for a true enthusiast to spot a bad imitation. And making a four-stroke sound like a two-stroke is blasphemy!
Through the studio’s connections with Lucas Oil, NBC Sports, and MAVTV, they were able to source footage from the TV coverage of previous Glen Helen Nationals, then used Glen Helen Raceway itself as a movie set. They mixed in footage of their stuntmen, including Afshar’s brother Pasha, with real racing sequences. Says Afshar, “We were going for 100 percent authenticity, whether it’s a scrub or a block pass.”
They also settled on utilizing race footage of Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin for Bennett’s racing sequences.
“Marvin’s racing, the stuntmen’s riding, and the lead actor Michael Roark’s character have all been rolled into one, and that’s Bennett,” Afshar explains. “So you won’t see Marvin’s name and number, but that’s him doing the racing, and that’s as real as it gets. When that gate drops, it’s an actual pro national, so a lot of the guys in it will probably get a kick out of seeing themselves on the big screen.”
arrie Bolling and Nicole Cesa, the longtime Lucas Oil Ladies for AMA Pro Motocross, basically play themselves. They also worked with Forrest Films for the truck racing feature Dirt, but in that one they appeared as Rockstar girls because it went with the series’ sponsorship component.
“This film meant more for me because it pulls both motocross into it as well as the Veterans MX Foundation, which I do a lot of work for,” Bolling says of the group that helps support military veterans through motocross participation. “So being in a movie that features both moto and Vet MX was awesome. They even used actual Veteran MX members in scenes in the movie whenever they could, and they also prominently displayed the Vet MX logos on clothing and decals on the sides of trailers and things like that.”
“Vet MX is kind of what this character does,” Afshar adds. “He gets hurt serving in the military, comes back home, and rehabilitates himself—physically, mentally, spiritually, everything—and that’s exactly what Vet MX does, so we were really excited to partner with them. Carrie was a great help in making that all happen.”
And because Bolling and Cesa worked the Glen Helen ’17 race that is the backdrop for one of the climactic scenes, it allowed the producers to use TV footage of them working the 30-second board and podium from NBC Sports and MAVTV. But Bolling says being in another movie isn’t going to her head.
Carrie Bolling
Carrie Bolling
hen he began the project, director Alex Ranarivelo says the first big challenge that came to mind was simply how to shoot something as big as a motocross race.
“It’s really hard to follow motorcycles over treacherous terrain, because you can’t shoot from a car alongside it,” he explains. “Shooting a football game can also be hard, but it’s a piece of cake compared to motocross. Also, in motocross the faces are covered, which presents another challenge. We wanted to stay true, but we also wanted to see the actors’ expressions through the goggles. It’s a small thing, but it’s important because the audience has
to be able to connect with the characters.”
When asked if potential actors were screened for riding ability, Ranarivelo laughs and says, “I’ve learned that actors lie to you anyways, so no, we didn’t bother to ask! Seriously, I’ve worked on two productions where we asked actors if they could drive a stick shift, and both were like, ‘Oh, yeah, I can drive stick.’ They couldn’t.”
It was up to Ranarivelo to stitch together the race footage, stunt footage, and dramatic footage to complete the racing aspects of the film. That meant combing through dozens of hours of footage.
“Alex was going through race footage, finding what he needed, then choreographing with the stunt coordinators and my brother Pasha how to shoot it again in bits and pieces,” Afshar says. “And with movies, you don’t do the whole thing at once. It’s literally one berm or one crash, and you do it over and over to make sure you get it right, then you move on to the next shot.”
“And we had maybe 80 riders working on this,” Ranarivelo adds. “We would spend a day shooting packs of 20 here, packs of 20 there. We also had to, at times, recreate the audience and the fans in the background.” In other words, there are a lot of moving parts when you’re filming a motocross movie.
One thing Ranarivelo did take away from the whole project was the fact that his favorite way to experience motocross is through the eyes of GoPro footage, as well as drones.
“Watching it live from alongside the track is one thing, but using GoPros and drones, it gives the audience the riders’ perspective,” he explains. “We put them on helmets, on fenders, on handlebars—we tried a lot of different angles to literally get the audience into the race.”
ow what the director and producer and everyone at Forrest Films needs is for the audience to head to theaters and watch Bennett’s War. The plan is for multiple screenings in early August, including an early showing during the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National, as well as a Nashville showing (Nashville being the home of co-star Trace Adkins, who plays Bennett’s father). There will be a full-on red carpet in Hollywood, and then another showing before the Ironman National, near the headquarters of Lucas Oil. A nationwide release begins on August 30.
“This movie is really a pivotal point for us,” the producer/actor Afshar says. “This is the first time that we are internally with Warner Brothers doing a national release of a movie, so there’s a lot riding on this. If this is successful, it will really open some opportunities up for us and the sport. We could maybe do a sequel for this one, or a whole different story based around motocross, so I really hope a lot of fans will get up and actually go into the movie theaters to see Bennett’s War.” 