Posted: April 22, 2008
Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash combines his athletic skill with his creativity as the producer of his own short film promoting his new sneaker, the “Nike Trash Talk.” The spot is a spoof on the old American television series, “The Six Million Dollar Man,” with Nash seen as the “60 Million Dollar Man,” and will play on Nash’s numerous on-court collisions.
“I have such a passion for watching films and now, that passion is being transferred into filmmaking. After starting my own production company, Meathawk, this seemed like the perfect time and place for me to make a short film to increase environmental awareness through the promotion of the Trash Talk,” said Nash.
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The shoe is modeled after Nash's previous shoe but uses different materials including pieced-together scraps of leather and synthetic leather waste from the factory floor and a sole made up of special materials including ground-up rubber from a shoe recycling program.
“I am really happy to be the first athlete to wear a recycled, high-performance shoe and be able to put my passion in filmmaking to good use for the environment. Developing the piece was a lot of fun and very worthwhile to me,” said the two-time MVP.
Nash took the role of producer, while Ezra Holland and Danny Vaia, his partners at Meathawk, directed the piece with Max Malkin (“Step Up 2: The Streets”) as the director of photography. Special effects were handled by the Stan Winston Studio (“Terminator,” “Terminator 2,” “Aliens,” “The Lost World”) and post-production was carried out by The Mill, an Oscar-winning company based in London and New York. The film marks the first creative effort to come from Meathawk.
Environmental consciousness is a key platform for the Phoenix Suns point guard. Along with the “Trash Talk,” Nash has partnerships with the Arizona Power Company, Canadian company BC Hydro, Energy Innovations and he drives the Lexus Hybrid.