Skateboarding was in decline in the early 90s, and an upcoming documentary, Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story just got a trailer which, takes a look at how Activision’s series brought it back into the limelight. The documentary, naturally, focuses on Tony Hawk, but it also looks at the history of skateboarding as a whole, and how it was a natural fit for adaptation into a video game.
He’s a household name now, so it might be hard to believe Tony Hawk was on the ropes around the time the first game bearing his name was in development. With interest in the sport on the decline, being a pro skateboarder was rapidly becoming an untenable career path. However, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater almost single-handedly reversed that trend and caused an explosion of enthusiasm in skateboarding and extreme sports in general.
The documentary is being directed by Ludvig Gur, whose previous works included several excellent shorts like The Outsider, Clean Colored Wire, and The Ego Death. In addition to Hawk, Pretending I’m a Superman will feature interviews with skate legends like Chad Muska, Rodney Mullen, Eric Koston, Steve Caballero, and Christian Hosoi. Joining these luminaries will be critical members of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater development team, including former Neversoft producer Scott Pease.
Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story debuts on August 18 on iTunes, YouTube, Prime Video, DIRECTV Now, and Xbox Video. It’s a great primer to watch before the release of the upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 remasters by release in September and will give viewers a new appreciation of what went into the game and its impact on pop culture and skateboarding.
[H/T ComingSoon]
