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BMX legend Eddie Fiola – the King of the Skateparks and the stunt double behind Cru Jones in RAD – sits down with me to talk about building Stingrays to look like dirt bikes, chasing down Bob Osborn for that first magazine shot, landing in RAD as Cru’s stunt double, and how all of that led to a long career crashing bikes for Hollywood.
In this episode of the RAD The Movie Podcast, Eddie and I go way back to:
• Growing up on Schwinn Stingrays, turning them into “mini motorcycles,” and dreaming of being Evel Knievel
• Discovering BMX magazines at the local bike shop and getting hooked on freestyle over racing
• The legendary run home-and-back to Lakewood Skatepark to convince Bob Osborne to shoot him – and how that turned into his first full-page color in BMX Action
• Touring, contests, and how being “the guy on top” made Hollywood start calling
• How Hal Needham and Sam Bernard found him through the mags and chose him as Cru’s stunt double for RAD
• Why Bill Allen had to dye his hair to look like Eddie (and not the other way around)
• Six wild weeks in Calgary filming Helltrack, dealing with crazy weather, and living by the daily call sheet
• How the fade of 80s BMX and the rise of mountain bikes pushed him into stunt work
• Working on Pacific Blue, Spider-Man 2 & 3, Contraband, and what it’s really like to be “the bike guy” on set
• The surreal day on The Hangover when Ed Helms sprinted over to geek out about RAD tricks – and tried to help get the movie released properly
• Why today’s riders stand on the shoulders (and wrecked joints) of the pioneers, and how learning to crash became a superpower in the stunt world
• Getting older in a young person’s sport, thinking about pension vs. pavement, and why Eddie still feels like he’s at the kids’ table – on a kid’s bike
If you love RAD, 80s BMX, stunt work, or just good stories from someone who was there when it all blew up, you’re going to love this one.
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