A feature documentary about Australian motorcycle racing legend Wayne Gardner, titled Wayne, is soon to arrive in cinemas. The film will have its World Premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 3, before being released nationally on September 6.
Gardner himself will be wheeled out (no pun intended) for special event screenings after the MIFF premiere, to be held in Sydney and Wollongong. Here’s one that takes place in Wollongong on August 7.
Wayne was made with Gardner’s co-operation. It was directed by Jeremy Sims, whose previous film as a director (Sims is also an actor) was the highly successful road movie Last Dab to Darwin.
The trailer for Wayne (check it out below) races through Gardner’s life and career, encapsulating the story of ‘The Boy from the Gong.’
The subject explains that his career began when he went “halves in a five dollar motorcycle.” Later on he became a national hero who lived an opulent life style. “I was in heaven. Like a cat in a fish shop,” he says.
Nicknamed the ‘Wollongong Whiz’, Gardner roared into the history books when he won the 500cc world championship in 1987.
Sims has described the film as “a passion project.” He says he is “excited to be bringing the thrilling and complex story of Wayne Gardner’s incredible journey to cinema goers.”
