City Hall was filled to capacity with Malibu locals last Thursday evening for the premiere of the 80-minute “Johnny Strange: Born to Fly” documentary, which has been four years in the making. Strange, who was Malibu born, raised and schooled, became a local legend during his growing-up years for pulling impressive stunts like car surfing (standing on top of a moving car) as well as going 60 mph on a skateboard on the 101 Freeway.
He later gained national and international attention for being the youngest person to climb the highest mountain peak on each continent by the age of 17, followed by forays into the extreme sport of BASE jumping.
In 2015, at the age of 23, Strange was killed in an accident in the Swiss Alps.
Local filmmakers Eamon Harrington and John Watkin of Planet Grande Pictures started making the documentary just prior to Johnny’s fatal accident in 2015. At the time, the Discovery Channel was seeking content for “Elevation Weekend,” and they thought Johnny would be the perfect subject.
At the very first meeting with Strange in Malibu, Harrington said in a recent interview with The Malibu Times. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we just roll cameras right now?’” They planned to use the footage in a “sizzle reel” as part of a pitch presentation to Discovery.
“We interviewed him in my living room and he was very candid about life,” Harrington said. “We were intrigued.”
Strange then left on his fateful trip to the Swiss Alps. After Strange’s death, Harrington said, the filmmakers’ cameras kept rolling here in Malibu.
“We don’t know why, but we just continued to shoot, and we got the [memorial] paddle-out and the memorial—even though we thought the film was over,” Harrington said. “Then, we thought, ‘Let’s do a film on Johnny Strange’s life’ and we moved forward with it and reached out to the family.”
On reflection, Harrington added, “Johnny Strange’s story is worth telling. He was one of a handful of people in the world pursuing an extreme passion and a dream. We were able to explore the theme of ‘What is a life well-lived? If you live to be 90 sitting in your living room, is that better than dying at the age of 23 after living life to its fullest?’ His story stirs those sorts of questions. It was a film that needed to be made.”
The documentary includes interviews with nearly 20 people, including Strange’s mother, father and sister; his co-adventurers and his friends. They say at a very young age Johnny tried to fly by jumping off the back of the couch, and ended up with a gash in his head. And that was just the beginning—his thrill-seeking behaviors escalated from there.
Videos chronicle the stunts of his growing-up years in extreme biking, snowboarding, skateboarding, riding a motorcycle and paragliding. In one, he catapults a bike high into the air and lands in a swimming pool. In another, he rides a motorcycle into a porta-potty. He started climbing the highest peak on every continent when he was 12, and finished when he was 17.
Strange then worked on completing the adventurers’ Grand Slam—a challenge to reach the North Pole, South Pole and all seven summits. He posed naked in Antarctica and parachuted to the North Pole from a helicopter.
Strange kept progressing to riskier and riskier pursuits. At age 18, he went to Las Vegas and took up skydiving. Then he learned BASE jumping—jumping off a high place with a parachute, like a cliff or radio tower, which is more dangerous than jumping out of a plane because there’s no forward wind speed.
At age 20, Strange went to France to learn BASE jumping with a wingsuit instead of a parachute—one of the most dangerous recreational activities in the world. The videos he made while “flying” are breathtaking, but one of Johnny’s co-adventurers admitted, “Johnny may have been trying to progress too quickly into the wingsuit.”
Prior to the final trip to the Swiss Alps, the film turned eerie, with several friends and family sensing something bad was about to happen, and telling Johnny not to go.
“There’s nothing quite like being able to fly. It’s like having superpowers. It’s about living to the fullest extent. I love it. I can’t stop,” Strange said in the film. He also stated, “The day I let fear deter me from following my dreams, I have already died.”
A final video of Strange, taken by a friend, showed him pushing off from a Swiss cliff in his wingsuit, despite the forecast of potentially unfavorable winds, and then tilting to the left instead of staying straight. The video stops there, but the friend explained that Johnny didn’t have the momentum for the suit to inflate, and hit the side of the mountain.
“I was so moved by seeing everyone come in to support the film, Johnny, and his family,” John Watkins said at the screening. “He was an extraordinary young man who absolutely loved life, people and his family. I hope the message of this film is about the power of love.”
