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The Road of Excess is a film about mental health, addiction, toxic masculinity, and the loss of fame through the eyes of ex-Dirty Sanchez star Matt Pritchard. Dirty Sanchez was a Welsh “Jackass” that was one of MTV Europe’s most popular shows in the early ’00s. After its end, Matt fell into darker times. Through the stories shared with his co-stars, his mother and his best friend, we learn about the fallout they suffered. From mental health issues such as depression to substance addiction and then more physical conditions. Dealing with these demons Matt exchanged one addiction for another, endurance sports. Each time the challenge has to be bigger and at the end of 2020 he decides to join a team to row across the Atlantic.
Transcript
00:00Fame is most probably one of the worst drugs out there.
00:04One minute, everyone wants a piece of the potty, and then the next minute, it's all, you know, it's gone.
00:11I met Pritch skateboarding in Cardiff, early 90s.
00:15Pritch was all in the magazines and stuff, you know, like a godlike figure.
00:20He's a gnarly guy. We were all gnarly, and we're known for it in the skate industry.
00:24And then one day we got a call from a talent scout for MTV.
00:27We're looking for the UK's most fucked up people. We're all like, well, that's us.
00:31And Dickie Sanchez was born.
00:35One minute you work in the skate shop, the next minute, everyone's just like,
00:38it's you guys off that show.
00:40Bulls struck up on billboards, sightings.
00:43Biggest TV show MTV you've ever made, it's everywhere. You've made seven seasons, a movie, everyone loves you.
00:48It's like finding the golden ticket in the Willy Wonka chocolate bar.
00:51But you can't carry on like that.
00:53The tour got cancelled, then it just comes crumbling down.
00:59But I was still drinking heavily, doing drugs heavily. Plus I was getting older.
01:04Running around with a crew of people that are not really your mates.
01:08Blokes on steroids, just wanting to stay up all night and make you do more gear.
01:13It just like had something in your head, just goes, phew, bam.
01:16Get off! Get away from me!
01:17That's around the time he rang me and said he was going to kill himself.
01:21Just wanted to run away.
01:23But then in 2011, I signed up for my first Iron Man.
01:29I swapped one addiction for another addiction.
01:33I'm going to cycle round wheels, I'm going to do an Iron Man, and then I'm going to do another
01:37Iron Man.
01:38I ended up doing 10 Iron Man in 10 days.
01:42Then I'm going to row the Atlantic.
01:443,200 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
01:47He's not happy going for a swim or just going for a row.
01:50He has to row across the Atlantic.
01:53Clearly you're running from something or trying to escape something.
01:55Have you got a row in background?
01:56No.
01:57Mental?
01:58I said to you, I'm swimming wrong.
01:59You do not want to lose contact with the boat.
02:01If you're in the water and you're seeing that boat disappearing, that's the last thing you'll see.
02:09The boat's kind of falling apart.
02:11Oh, you knew it snapped?
02:13Fucking hell.
02:15Is this row going to sort my life out?
02:17I don't know, I'm just forever looking for this thing.
02:23I don't know what I'm looking for.
02:25But to get to the other side and see land.
02:28That's what I have a dream of.
02:30And hopefully, I can start again.
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