A LIFE ON WHEELS
ROLLERBOY was originally a project that started in 2005 called Jesus Can't Skate, also featuring Melissa George. One year later the 'self produced' 85min film was selected for the Australian International Film Festival at Hoyts cinemas in Melbourne and won the Audience Award. At the same time, Producers and Screen Australia became involved, and the five year adventure began.
Jesus Can't Skate - Audience Award Winner
2006 Australian International Film Festival
Snippet: Melissa George puts on skates for the first time in over a decade in Jesus Can't Skate.
a FIVE year journey
Producer Beth Frey of Circe Films discovered the project I had created and was instantly captivated by the amount of footage and archival material was available. Within the year we had successfully applied for, and obtained funding from Screen Australia under the 'New Director's Initiative' to completely redevelop and rename the project.. the only catch was, they wanted the film's focus to shift from a documentary about 'roller skating' and focus the attention on my life story -- we enter the new phase of ROLLERBOY.
After five long years of production and post, in 2011 the film was selected in the presitgious Sydney Film Festival and had its world premiere in front of a capacity audience and some interesting 'promotion' on the red carpet that made news headlines. By 2013, Rollerboy was released and became available on iTunes in the US and Australia, charting in the Top 25 Movies.
on a roll..
Long time friend and former skating champion, now Golden Globe nominee actress, Melissa George, put her skates on back in 2005 in Sydney alongside the harbour and I was filming her. She looked incredible on camera and we were having a lot of fun, but it was when Melissa took hold of the camera and put me to the test and started asking some pretty poignant questions that of course resulted in some beautiful moments between the two of us and also some key footage in both projects. Melissa was a National and Oceania skating champion. We were both ambassadors for the 2007 World Championships on the Gold Coast.
THE FILM..
Feature Documentary: 82mins
Produced by Circe Films - Beth Frey.
Directed by Polly Watkins, Jayson Sutcliffe.
Edited by Simon Wright
Original Score: Lorenzo Castellarin
Cast: Jayson Sutcliffe, Melissa George,
Tammy Bryant, Scott Cohen, Colin & Beverley Sutcliffe, Leanne Christie, Lynda Paulding, Daniel Humphreys, Sean McGrath, Nicholas Bird and Diego Farina.
Synopsis: From a suburban backyard to the world stage, Jayson Sutcliffe 'ROLLERBOY' skated his way to the top. Channelling his superheroes including the Bionic Woman and Kylie Minogue, Jayson lives to skate. Across twenty years on the international circuit he challenges the stereotypes and conventions of the skating world; his pursuit of gold and glory fueled by an insatiable quest for fame and a deep personal secret that drives his alter ego to achieve his dream at all costs. On the 20th Anniversary of his first world championship he finds himself thirty-five years old and still living at home with his mum... is it time to retire?
ROLLERBOY - what a life on Wheels
