“We were in
shooting the Dave Rastovich and Chris Del Moro story in the film. We
had almost a month worth of shooting and traveling with them–it was a journey
of a lifetime. We were
invited to go up to this beautiful getaway retreat where couples could go and
're-connect' through yoga, meditation, etc. The retreat was closed, but
the owners invited us. I only knew about six of the 16 people who were crammed into a small Jacuzzi. None of us had trunks, mind you. Next to the
Jacuzzi was a beautiful pool lit with all sorts of colorful lights.
There was no diving board, instead a 10-foot high rock formation that you could
dive off of. At the top of the rock formation sat a glorious wooden Buddha statue, about 5 feet tall. People began to climb the rocks so they could dive into the
deep colorful pool. The only downside was that the last step to the top of the
rock formation was about a 3-foot vertical step, so people were grabbing onto
the Buddha statue to pull themselves up. Chris Del Moro grabbed the Buddha head to hoist
himself up. Needless to say, we all heard a giant 'crack, pop, crack.' We
turn around in the Jacuzzi to see Chris in his birthday suit standing at
the top of the rock pile holding the Buddha's head in his hands. He was so
nervous. Luckily, the owner of the retreat was laughing. He said that he
was waiting for someone to do that. We all went on the have a great night, but the next day we went to the retreat's website to find the homepage to
be a photograph of that Buddha statue over the pool.”
—Nathan Apffel, director of Lost Prophets–Search for the Collective, which follows eight surfers scattered all over the world.
Lost Prophets–Search for the Collective plays at 2:45 p.m. today.* Go here
for ticket info.
*BONUS: The Advertising Department informs me that immediately after the screening, the Weekly and Kona Brewing host a happy hour in honor of Lost Prophets at Aloha Grill, 1749 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa. Be there or be an uku.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.