Following the great, and surprising to him, success of the first Dust to Glory movie, director Dana Brown has announced his plans to create another feature documentary based on Baja off-road racing in Dust 2 Glory, the current working title of Brown’s latest project. Although the plan has been in the works during the past year, thanks to a working relationship with SCORE, Dust 2 Glory has been green-lighted for production with initial filming scheduled to begin during tomorrow’s Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000.
We had a chance to speak with Brown today about Dust 2 Glory after the 48th Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 press conference. As he explained, the movie will be based around the Baja 1000, just like the original, but the entire 2016 SCORE series will weave its way into the story.
“The movie is really based on the 1000,” Brown said. “Because of the series, which is something you really didn’t see in the first one, the extra year gives us time to see some of these racers at home, to be able to develop the stories, and just not all on the track. When we did the last one we just shot the race. This time we’ll be able to get to know the racers more.”
Brown and a skeleton crew are at this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 to talk with teams, scout out story lines and collect some material for the upcoming film.
“We’re down here right now to get to see the scene, talk to some of the guys, and to shoot some of the event, because, you know, it’s half race and half Burning Man at the same time,” he said. “So we’re just down here with a small crew just getting started.”
A lot of things have changed south of the border since the release of the first film back in 2005, but at the same time many things have not – both on and off the track. In terms of story lines, part of the draw for Brown is that there seems to be an endless supply of stories in Baja off-road racing.
“It’s bigger,” Brown said. “I mean I guess there are less entrants, but there sure seems to be a lot more fans. It still has that minor league feel in a way, and I mean that in the best possible way, but there used to be a dirt mound they’d ride up on for the finish line, and now the race has more trappings of the 21st Century, but I think at its heart it’s still this one-of-a-kind race. Honestly, we did the last one and I wondered how long this race would keep going on, and it’s still here. It’s gotten bigger, which these guys deserve, and with the Internet and social media there’s more exposure that way, and there’s more sponsors for them.”
For Brown, who grew up spending time in Baja with his father and fellow moviemaker Bruce Brown, the allure of Baja and the unique stories behind the Baja 1000 race are what drew him in the first time. Revisiting the sport with some new faces, and some returning ones, still intrigues him from both a directing and a curiosity standpoint.
“For me, there’s always a passion for Baja, and I love making movies and just the passion that these people share,” Brown said. “I mean, I don’t know what the entry fee is, $3,000 or something, to win half of that. There’s really not another sport where there’s all these different people out in the field who all have these very different tales. You have the top Trophy Truck guys, and those guys are super accomplished athletes and they are as good as it gets, and then at the other end you have guys that this is just kind of their one race of the year and they’re not really planning on winning, they are here to participate in the spectacle. To see that unifying passion for the race and the place, and then you have all these other stories, as a storyteller it’s kind of a no-brainer. You can come down here and toss a dart at the entry list, another dart and another dart and you have a great movie, and then toss a few other darts and you have a completely different movie.”
The popularity and appreciation for the original film in the off-road racing community is still a bit of a shock to Brown today. He says he knew the film was well received, but he wasn’t aware of just how well.
“I’ve been other places and people walk up and ask to sign something for Dust to Glory, and with friends, people like Ricky [Johnson], you know guys that race down here, and I cross their paths, and I kind of had an idea it was well received,” Brown said. “But until I came down to the 500 this year I had no idea… just walking down the street people I had never met would walk up next to me and say the movie meant a lot to them, and that meant a lot to me. I knew people were passionate about it, but I didn’t know how many, and especially how many down here. It’s really gratifying, and it’s kind of good that I didn’t know. It’s a nice thing. I was proud of the film, but … I had no idea.”
With the majority of the filming set for the 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship Series, the expected release date for Dust 2 Glory is sometime in 2017, during the 50th anniversary year of the Baja 1000. No doubt, Baja fans can expect another epic tale of all that makes off-road racing south of the border such a spectacle. We can’t wait to see the finished product.
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