Jolene Van Vugt & Aaron Fotheringham Interview - Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D

There’s dangerous, and then there’s all out insane. For extreme sports enthusiast Travis Pastrana and the Nitro Circus, nothing is too dangerous, nothing is too outrageous, and nothing is too impossible. After a number of DVDs, two seasons on MTV, and a series of tours across the world, the Nitro Circus is bringing their over-the-top stunts to the big screen with Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D.

Comprising the Nitro Circus team are pro motocross racer Jolene Van Vugt and extreme wheelchair athlete Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham who gave Shakefire the opportunity to speak with them.

Shakefire: Jolene, did filming in 3D hinder any of the stunts you could perform?

Jolene Van Vugt: I don’t think any of the stunts got cut because of the 3D. I think a lot of the stunts actually looked better in 3D form. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to do quite a few stunts I wanted to do because of an injury that I got throughout the entire filming.

SF: That’s unfortunate. Did your stunt at least make it into the film?

JVV: I’m in there, although I’m not exactly in there the way I wanted to be and the way I envisioned when we got our big break. It’s not what I wanted to be able to do for the film but the boys definitely all kicked it up a notch and there are some amazing stunts in the film.

SF: It all sounds pretty dangerous.

JVV: Unfortunately with what we do there is a lot of risk for injury and a lot of my injuries have come at the wrong and most inconvenient time. We were on tour in New Zealand and Australia a couple months before we started filming the movie and I crashed pretty bad and completely needed reconstruction on my shoulder. I ended up having to duct tape my arm to my body a lot of the time to even be able to perform stunts.

SF: Wheelz, how do you become involved with the film?

Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham: They just gave me a call and said, “Hey, you want to come and film with the movie?” I didn’t really know what to expect and then you get there and you’re pretty much terrified. With everything we were doing you could really get hurt.

SF: How did you handle that?

AF: A big thing that holds people back is fear. Fear is an interesting thing because we can’t really see it or anything but it’s just there. You got to keep pushing, even though you’re scared. You have to push yourself over that edge. The other day I got to do Bob Burnquist’s mega ramp and I was pretty terrified. I was at the top and was seriously so scared I froze up. Even though my body was frozen I just forced myself to go down it because you don’t know how close you are to being successful if you just give up because you’re scared.

SF: What is it about the movie that you think will attract people?

AF: The whole thing is just so epic. The people that have been seeing the movie, they walk away and are just so pumped. They want to go out and do something. It definitely motivates people to get out there and live. If you try any of the stunts don’t sue us, though. Haha.

Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D comes to theaters on August 8th, but fans can attend the World Premiere screening of the film on August 7th at 7:30. Atlanta residents can go to AMC Discover Mills 18, Regal Hollywood 24 @N. I-85, and Carmke Movies 278 14 for tickets. Be sure to check out the official Nitro Circus website for more details and showtimes.

Jolene Van Vugt can be found on Twitter at @JoleneNitroGirl and on her official website.

Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham can be found on Twitter at @wcmx4life and on his official website.