''Big Rig'' is a 2007 documentary film by Doug Pray about long-haul

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

s. The film consists of a series of interviews with different drivers, focusing on both their personal life stories and also the life and culture of truck drivers in the United States.

Production

The film was shot with a crew of three people: director and cameraman Doug Pray, producer Brad Blondheim, and lighting, sound, and general production assistant Jim Dziura.http://bigrigmovie.com/bigrig/INFO5-about.html, official production notes Filming took place over four different two-week roadtrips. The crew of three did not schedule interviews with truckers: they would drive into a truck stop in their RV and approach the truckers for interviews. If the driver agreed, Pray would ride as the passenger and interview the driver for the day, while Blondheim followed in the RV. Most of the interviewees were very skeptical of the crew at first, and the crew was repeatedly thrown out of truck stops for soliciting interviews, which is typically not allowed. Director Pray and producer Blondheim became interested in a trucker documentary after a series of road trips to various concerts during the filming of Pray's '' Scratch''.Doug Pray, Brad Blondheim, audio commentary on ''Big Rig'' DVD In 2001, Pray and Blondheim shot and edited a 10-minute film as a proof of concept for the film's production process. For the film's music, producer Blondheim was inspired by the roots music featured in the film '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?''. One of the music producers from '' Scratch'' interested them in the music of

Buck 65 Richard Terfry (born March 4, 1972), better known by his stage name Buck 65, is a Canadian alternative hip hop rapper. Underpinned by an extensive background in abstract hip hop, his more recent music has extensively incorporated blues, country ...

. The final cut of the film uses several contributions from Buck 65; about one third of this was composed specifically for the film. The film was shot on a Panasonic Varicam and edited by the director using Final Cut Pro. In July 2012 it was announced by several in the truck driving community and by a source inside Ocule Films that there will be a sequel to the film, No time frame for when filming or production will begin on the sequel.

Reception

The film was an official selection of the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

and AFI Fest, and was featured at a handful of other small film festivals.Source: DVD jacket It was released on DVD in late 2008. The film was and remains a big hit with the trucking community and truck drivers.

References

External links

*
Collection of press reactions
at the ''Big Rig'' official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Rig (Film) American documentary films 2007 documentary films 2007 films Trucker films Films directed by Doug Pray Documentary films about road transport 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films