World Wide Mind’s Ben Nott pays tribute to cult surf film ‘Mad Wax’ with new short film ‘Go Mad!’
In a homage to the cult-classic surf film Mad Wax that he starred in back in the 80s, big wave legend Ross Clarke-Jones (RCJ) joins Caroline Marks (youngest person to qualify for the world tour in 2018), Kanoa Igarashi (2017 Pipe Masters runner-up) and Leo Fioravanti (World Tours only Italian surfer) in a digital short film titled Go Mad!
Go Mad! was co-produced with World Wide Mind and written and directed by Ben Nott, the brain behind 2013 feature surf drama, Drift.
Released this week, Go Mad! comes three decades after the original Max Wax film – a film that’s garnered a cult following and is credited as redefining surf films.
Says 51 year-old Clarke-Jones: “I remember when I used to watch surf movies in theatres and it would just be wave after wave of perfect Pipeline.
“I would think, this is good for the first few waves, but then it gets boring. The evolution that came from films like Mad Wax and
Kong’s Island felt like it was more expressive of what surfing is all about…having fun!”
Mad Wax was released in the 80s, during the height of the Mad Max movie franchise, and was a cheeky play on names.
Following his lead in Mad Wax, Clarke-
Jones – who is a former championship tour surfer turned big wave pioneer, also starred in Storm Surfers with best mate Tom Carroll, and went on to became the first non-Hawaiian surfer to win the prestigious Eddie Aaikau Memorial Big Wave contest at Waimea Bay.
The perennially ageless Clarke-Jones “passes on the wax” to a new
generation of passionate surfers in the Go Mad! adaptation, with the short film following Clarke-Jones as he gives up the last remaining bars of magic surf wax that allow surfers to teleport to some of the world’s best breaks by rubbing it onto their boards and imagining where they’d like to be.
Encouraging the younger pro’s to “Go Mad!” Clarke-Jones provides inspiration as he reveals he’s just landed fresh from riding some of the biggest waves on the planet at Nazaré in Portugal.
Says Marks: “Go Mad! is a really fun way of giving everyone a unique look at surfing and giving us the chance show off our acting skills too. There is nothing else like it out there and that’s what makes it special to be a part of.”
Complete with full ’80s effects and graphics, the 5-minute digital Go Mad! short also features music from GANGgajang – the Australian band that scored the original film and launched to success as a result.
Thirty years after Mad Wax was released, the madness lives on and will be entrusted to the hands of surfing’s next generation.
Says Clarke-Jones: “Train hard, live a good lifestyle, but take some time to have fun and enjoy the ride… Go mad.”
The original Mad Wax was released as surfing was on the cusp of mainstream popularity. The surf apparel industry was undergoing major changes and preparing to explode. Brands and surfers alike remained unknown to the mainstream.
Clarke-Jones is one of Red Bull’s first ever southern hemisphere athletes, and remains the longest serving Quiksilver surfer in history. He continues to charge Nazaré with the reckless abandon of someone half his age.
For the 32 years that he has travelled the world surfing big waves, Clarke-Jones has been at the pinnacle of his craft, with a career that has spanned generations of rookies joining the death-defying sport.
In 2016, he was runner-up to John John Florence at the Eddie contest. Not only has Clarke-Jones not skipped a beat in his big-wave career, he’s continuing to push the envelope and reset the standards of big wave surfing.
Writer and director Nott has known Clarke-Jones since he was 16, with the pair competing against each other as groms.
Says Nott: “At a time where most people are starting to think about retirement, Ross is still at the top of his game and going from strength to strength. Like a fine wine, Ross just seems to get better and better with age. It was awesome to reconnect with him and work on the Go Mad! project, and I think the fun we had making it shines through.”