The Worlds Fastest Indian, update by Mike "Kiwi' Thomas
Related Links
Burt Munro - A New Zealand Legend, The Munro Special
Burt Munro, 1899-1978 - A New Zealand Motorcycling
Legend, Part One
Burt Munro, 1899-1978 - A New Zealand Motorcycling
Legend, Part Two
The Worlds Fastest Indian movie starring Sir
Anthony Hopkins as Burt Munro
The Worlds Fastest Indian movie 22
more photos of filming at
Utah
T.W.F.I Special Screening Movie Review Aug 30th
2005
Photos of the Ducati Powered Specials
production at TurnTru Machining, Invercargill, NZ
Official TWFI Site
| Official
TWFI Site Movie Trailer (may require huge Quicktime download)
Simpler Alternative Trailer without Quicktime |
reprinted by permission from Indian Motocycle Club of Great Britain,
some photos nicked from www.kiwi-indian.com,
thanks Mike!.. who writes...I have just returned from spending 2 weeks on the movie shoot
called "Worlds Fastest Indian" which is based around Wendover Utah / Nevada. A
good part of the shoot was recreated on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
I am happy to report that it is progressing extremely well. It's about an
elderly New Zealander called Burt Munro who built a Indian streamliner based
upon a 1920's Scout which he had created his own cyls and OHV set up and raced
it in the 1960's. He still holds the title to the worlds fastest Indian and did
a 1 way pass of 201 mph. Anthony Hopkins stars as Burt and Roger Donaldson is
the director.
 The script is excellent and Anthony plays Burt very well along with a few of
Burt's typical humorous one liners for a few good laughs. Burt was a real
character which comes through pretty well.
There is a crash scene which came across way better than anyone had planned but
it cost Eric the stunt rider a broken collar bone and a knob on his head.
The movie is to be released in late 2005. It is very well written and all the
actors did a great job. 1 of the characters was the famous Rollie Free which I
had great pleasure of filling the actor in about him even though he seemed well
versed about Rollie.
The setting was 1962 which was recreated on the Bonneville Salt Flats along with
the announcing tower, start lines, mile markers and portable buildings. At one
point about 250 extras were present along with about 75 classic period
Bonneville speed cars and motorcycles. Several of them were very famous cars and
set world records and had never been photographed together. Roger Donaldson
owned an army Indian in his younger days and came to admire Burt and wrote the
script 25 years ago.
 The director, producers and Anthony Hopkins are all friends and have a long
working relationship together which you could see all of the good chemistry come
through. Anthony said it is the most fun he has had on a movie for over 20 yrs.
He fell in love with Burt's story that he decided to do it for a fraction of his
usual fee.
The work behind the scenes is huge and makes for long days (6.30am to 1.30am)
for some people. Maintenance of stuff on the salt is very high. The salt is a
real killer and gets into everything. 1 Kiwi (Noel) built the 2 look alike
replicas and 2 other Kiwi's (Perry and Wayne) built the identical replica along
with another one in the works which is still in NZ.
Burt's workmanship was crude at best but the guys did a remarkable job of
exactly recreating the bikes. Roger is very particular about detail and I would
say without any doubt it is an identical replica judging from all of Burt's
original pictures that they had there. We fired the replica up for the 1st time
on the Wendover airstrip and took it for a little ride and what a memorable
moment. Burt still lives on. We fired it up on the Bonne salt flats and without
any effort it did 100 mph in 2nd gear.
Burt seemed to be looking over the whole movie setting as the weather was
absolutely perfect, something that very rarely happens on the salt especially
for any length of time. Burt's son John showed up and showed us Burt's original
bash hat (helmet), goggles, gloves and travel bag.
 Our Kiwi Freightliner was being used as the transportation vehicle and a funny
thing happened along the way. Josh our driver handed out some red Kiwi Indian
arrowhead T-shirts. These stood out on the white salt flats and the T-shirts
become a very coveted item and many more had to be shipped in. People
incorrectly started putting one and one together after seeing the Kiwi truck and
T-shirts and started calling it the Kiwi Indian movie. On one of the final days
of shooting I had the pleasure to spend some time with Andy Green of England.
Andy is the fastest man on wheels and the 1st man to break the sound barrier
setting a record of 763 mph in a jet powered streamliner. A very interesting man
to talk to. He said the only challenging moments were between 650 and 720 mph,
after that things seemed to settle down. Darn fast and not an ideal time to be
worried. Our replica Chief went along to the salt flats.
Once out on the salt flats I don't think there was 1 person who did not get
their picture taken with it including Anthony Hopkins. Everyone admired it. Some
guys joked to me that it didn't run so I fired it up and went riding out on the
salt.
Now they couldn't believe someone would ride such a nice motorcycle on the salt.
My son Ross is 10 yrs old and I put him in front of me and off we rode. The bike
ran dead straight and ran true. The bike was responsive to just a little bit of
body movement, pure fun. I have never ever ridden an Indian that ran so true and
handled so well. It ran so great and handled so effortlessly that Ross took over
the controls and I just sat on the back and he took me for a ride. Ross put on
quite a few miles over the final few days hauling me around.
Over the next few weeks I plan to put pictures up on our website
www.kiwi-indian.com of the movie shoot. It is nice to see a movie made about a
real guy who achieved his dream and believed in Indians and a true story.
One of Burt's sayings was "I man can live more in 5 minutes on a motorcycle than
a whole lifetime".
How true. It seemed like I was there watching Burt do his record run.
Long live Burt -
Mike (Kiwi) Tomas
Kiwi Indian MotoCycles
www.kiwi-indian.com
ph 951 788 0048
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