Keoghan comes home for premiere
Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan is coming home to premiere his new film at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch.
When the lights fade in the theatre on Friday night, it will be the end of a six-year journey for Keoghan that involved cycling hundreds of kilometres up mountains on an ancient bicycle, blacking out with exhaustion and getting lost in small French towns.
The journey of endurance was made to bring alive the story of a great Christchurch hero - legendary champion cyclist Harry Watson.
Keoghan wanted to make sure the documentary about the cyclist’s achievements, Le Ride, had its world premiere at the heart of his and Watson’s home town. It is screening as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival.
‘‘We really wanted this to be the first place.’’
‘‘I used to walk past this theatre every day when I worked down the road. I never imagined I would be back here with a film just 30 years later.’’
‘‘It’s a great bookend to the journey of making this film. We wanted the release of the film to start here.’’
In 1928, Watson and three Australian cyclists competed in the Tour de France, taking on one of the toughest cycling competitions in the world.
For his new film, Keoghan retraced Watson’s route, using bicycles as close to Watson’s heavy metal-framed 1928 originals as possible.
It was a gruelling 26-day endurance test where they cycled an average of 350 kilometres a day, sometimes climbing 6000 metres in a single day, which is the equivalent of nearly two Mt Cook ascents.
‘‘I will never do it again. It was ridiculous what we did.’’
He said it was worth it to pay tribute to an overlooked Christchurch hero.
‘‘We have captured a piece of New Zealand history that might otherwise have been lost.’’