Jackass Forever Featurette: A Painful Trip Down Memory Lane
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough, and the "Jackass" guys are the toughest of them all. Somehow this crew of maniacs has been throwing themselves into ridiculous danger for more than 20 years, and they've done it one last time for the final "Jackass" film, "Jackass Forever." In a new featurette from Paramount, director Jeff Tremaine, star Johnny Knoxville, and producer Spike Jonze shared their joy at getting to act like a bunch of jackasses one last time.
Decades of Mayhem
The "Jackass" guys have been friends for a long, long time. For many of them, the friendship goes back to filming the MTV television series, which debuted in October of 2000. 22 years later, most of the crew is back in the saddle again, this time with gray hair and bad hips. For creators Tremaine and Jonze, the friendship goes back even further, as Jonze started hanging out with his skateboarding buddy Tremaine when he was just 12 years old. Jonze was the most concerned about trying to shoot a new "Jackass" film due to everyone's advanced age, but once he was on set he realized everyone was just happy to be there, together.
The deep bonds between the "Jackass" crew are what make the franchise so special. There are plenty of idiots willing to debase themselves for laughs on the internet, but the decades-long camaraderie between this crew is something really special. "Jackass Forever" will see a bunch of younger members joining the crew to help take on some of the stunts, and hopefully will develop that same kind of friendship forged in the fires of funny pranks.
Two original cast members won't be a part of the "Jackass Forever" festivities: Ryan Dunn, who died in 2011, and Bam Margera, who has been in a bitter back-and-forth with the crew over an alleged breach of his wellness contract. Margera finished one stunt that will be included in the movie, but is otherwise absent. The rest of the guys, including Danger Ehren, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, and Dave Englund, will all be back for the bumps and bruises "Jackass" brings.
"Jackass Forever" is likely to be the final film in the franchise, as Knoxville has said he's done after this one, but who knows? Most of the guys said they were done after "Jackass Number Two" all the way back in 2006. My hope is that maybe it's finally time for a "Wildboyz" spin-off movie.
"Jackass Forever" premieres exclusively in theaters on February 4, 2022.