Jeffrey James Tremaine is an American showrunner, filmmaker and former magazine editor. He is most closely associated with the Jackass franchise, having been involved since the inception of the first TV show. He is currently the executive producer for Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, Ridiculousness, Nitro Circus, and Adult Swim's Loiter Squad. His new film The Dirt (2019) is a biopic about the legendary rock band Motley Crue. Today he talks about his experience with Jackass helped him understand the crazy legacy of Motley Crue.
Screen Rant: Right now I have to ask, what was it about Motley Crew that you, their unique story that you kind of attached to?
Jeff Tremaine: Well, it was funny because when we were, I was making Jackass, the first Jackass movie and that's when that book came out and we were all like, we are all handing it to each other like “You gotta read this book. It's crazy.” And not really realizing then that our stories are so similar like that there is so much fun and craziness, but there's also a lot of tragedy and there's addiction. We've gone, I've gone through a very similar, just being involved with a little family, a crazy dysfunctional family similar to that, that's why I wanted to tell the story and tell it right. Like I wasn't a Motley Crue superfan, you know, I liked Motley Crue. But I was not a super fan. I told, I wanted to tell the story because I feel like I went through this and I get it and I was an eighties kid that I wanted to tell this story right. And not make it feel like a parody and joke. You know.
Screen Rant: It's funny that you brought up Jackass 'cause I was going to ask, how did that experience help you kind of do this?
Jeff Tremaine: I don't know how much it helped me do this. I guess the success of Jackass helped me do this because, yeah. But I guess living through this and you know, through doing Jackass, I did become a filmmaker.
Screen Rant: Well also, I mean they're all kind of a lot of similarities between I guess, cause the Jackass crew crazy. And so is the Motley Crue crew, obviously they're crazy. But why do you think it was the right time to do a Motley Crue bio pic now?
Jeff Tremaine:Well, I've been trying, like now it just happened. Like to me, I've been trying to get this movie made. I've been attached to this movie for eight years. And I would have happily made it eight years ago, but it took this long to make it so here we are. And but we, you know, it's, we're just telling this true story that’s in this book. I'm not trying to look at it through any other lens. And this and this happened.
Screen Rant: I mean, that's one thing is you don't shy away from the success or the transgressions that anybody really has. I mean it's there, front and center. Now talking to the band and in talking to them about that experience, how did you want to keep that as authentic as possible when you were doing those kinds of scenes and that kind of stuff?
Jeff Tremaine: Well, they put out this book, they put all those stories out there and told it as honestly, I mean there was open books. I guess so, having put that book out, I'm like, let's just capture this like the spirit and the voice and the individual voices in this. I wanted to capture that. When I read that book I was, it was so magical that each guy has their own voice and they sometimes contradict each other and their stories. And I wanted to make sure that this movie felt like that. So we tried to infuse that into this movie.
Screen Rant: Were there any stories from that book that, that you wanted to put in the film but didn't quite make it?
Jeff Tremaine: I mean, yeah, like there's not, I'm not gonna, I can't rattle off one, even one specific one. The big ones are all in this movie to me, but there was endless mayhem that I would have loved to.
Screen Rant: Sure, sure, I can only imagine. What do you think future generations can take away from the success and some of the transgressions that these guys had?
Jeff Tremaine: Yeah. I mean, I don't think these guys are role models by any means, but I think their music will live forever. Like I told you, I wasn't a super fan going into this, but like, you know, when you make something like this, you get, you have to listen to those songs so many damn times. You get sick of them, but their music, I got, it would get better and better. I'm like, Oh yeah, I'm done now. I'm a superfan now. I am like, this music is timeless.
Screen Rant: If you were to relate yourself to or put yourself in a relate the most to any one of the Motley Crue guys, which one do you think, if the calls out to you the most?
Jeff Tremaine: Well that's hard to say. Like I like Nikki a lot. He's been very helpful to me and getting this made and just been a really good voice. But Tommy, he's like, I love Tommy. Like he feels like one of the Jackass guys, like the most, like one of the Jackass guys. I like them all. They've all been very helpful in their own ways
Screen Rant: Even after watching this, I didn't know much about Mick and I, and I felt like, Oh man, this guy was talented, right?
Jeff Tremaine: Mick is so kickass too. So I helped, they shot a concert film in 2015 and I got to, they asked me if I'd do the behind the scenes, so do just any, all the band interviews and that kind of stuff. So I went and I was hanging out with Mick and I was like, “Hey, will you just show us your guitars, like how you keep it all when you're getting ready to go on stage.” And he just showed us his little guitar closets on the side of the stage. And then he grabbed one of the guitars and he plugged in and got out on stage. This is at the Honda Center in Anaheim and just plugged in and I just started calling out songs and he just started riffing them. The dude, it's just really like slow-mo. His fingers are just like, oh my God. Oh my God, I just want to see this. This is fantastic.
