War(d) Stories – special features

Did you dig on War(d) Stories as much as we did? Chris Ward, enigmatic existence that he is, certainly made for an entertaining documentary subject. Once the last episode wraps, any good series goes cold for a little, before rolling out in a box set with some special features. That’s kinda what this is. The box set? All the episodes on one page for you to watch in sequence. The special features? An interview with long time Lost in-house filmmaker and documenter, and the series’ creator, Joseph Alani. This is for the Wardo fans out there.

All episodes below…

Stab: How quick was everyone to tell you their Ward stories? Who had the best?
Joe Alani: Some people were a bit hesitant but, I think for the most part, everyone really opened up to us because they know we’ve had a long enough history with Chris and making surf videos that it’d get put together the right way. Bruce Irons on the boat in Indo with Biolos and the crew is probably the best interview as far as in-depth stories go. Andy Irons, too. All the guys that have really spent a lot of time with Ward had great ones and weren’t afraid to talk.

Was there any stories you had to censor ’cause they were too wild? Yes, but only because we either didn’t have the footage or the interview to back up the story. Chris isn’t exactly an easy person to keep track of. If he thinks the waves are going to be good he’ll leave in the middle of the night and drive 12 hours into Baja with his buddy from San Clemente and not tell anyone. Then he’ll come back and say you blew it because he scored perfect waves. Most of the interviews we did were spontaneous and on the spot and not everyone wants to tell every story but, for the most part, the stories we did get on camera we showed.

Why is Ward such an interesting character? He’s not perfect. All the talent in the world but things don’t always go his way, he doesn’t always win the contest and he gets himself into a lot of tricky situations – usually in the pursuit of waves or a good time. He indulges in every primal urge that deep down all of us want to indulge in but are too scared of what the consequences may be. And he pulls it off.

The stories about Ward lived in surfing folklore, but now they’ve been eternalised and made real. Discuss. If you’re the National Geographic channel and you have the footage of Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster, you show it. But like those creatures, he is elusive and we could only capture so much of him on camera. We showed a glimpse of how the guy lives his life everyday and as long as he’s still surfing and traveling and meeting people, the stories won’t stop – along with the myths and rumours.

What were your main aims with the series? To tell a good story  with great surfing and make it fun to watch. We all thought it was important to let out as much as possible and show Chris how he really is – even if it’s not all peaches and cream. I don’t think you need to pull the wool over the eyes of the surfing public and create some kind of image that that person really isn’t, in order to get them to watch. In the end people see through all that bullshit. Good surfing and truly candid moments is what they remember.

Anything else you’d like to say about the whole party? I want to thank Chris and his family for trusting us to make this series and tell his stories. And everyone at …Lost, especially Mike Reola and Matt Biolos who created/put together the series with me.