Danny MacAskill heads to Blackpool Beach and an abandoned quarry for his new film

Scottish stunt cycle sensation Danny MacAskill has revealed a new film made on Blackpool Beach and at an abandoned sandstone quarry.
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He has joined forces with fellow Scottish stunt rider Kriss Kyle to create a six and a half minute showcase of their favourite tricks.

They used the street furniture of Blackpool’s promenade after abandoning plans to film in Scotland last September due to a bad weather forecast.

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Woodland trails and sandstone quarry cliffs at Nescliffe, in Shropshire, which MacAskill described as a perfect “playground” for filming, were also deployed.

The new film, This and That, is one of three made by MacAskill during the pandemic and has been released months after the street trials superstar returned to Skye to make a film riding down vast concrete slabs.

MacAskill, who shot to fame with a 2009 film made on the streets of Edinburgh, said: “One of my old flatmates used to live in Blackpool so I had ridden the streets a couple of times before.

“The promenade has wide open public space, with a lot of different features, various walls and randoms bits of concrete.

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“We made the film last September when you could still move around the UK.

“The weather wasn’t looking good in Scotland so we decided we decided to go down to Blackpool to film there for a couple of days, and also film at a sandstone quarry. We all ended up living down in Wales for around six months.

“It was a lot of fun as Kriss Kyle is an absolutely world-class rider. We have done lots of different filming projects separately over the years but this is the first time we’ve ever collaborated on one. We wanted to make a kind of mix and match film.

"Nesscliffe isn’t really known as somewhere you would go with your bike, they’re really just known as cool local woods.

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“There’s an old sandstone quarry where these big holes have been dug out in the ground.

Danny MacAskill on Blackpool Beach. Picture: Dave MackisonDanny MacAskill on Blackpool Beach. Picture: Dave Mackison
Danny MacAskill on Blackpool Beach. Picture: Dave Mackison

"Over the years they’ve just been filled up with topsoil from the cliffs and dead leaves. It has made it into a real playground for making a film. We lucked out – we couldn’t have asked for a better location.

"If you went there and really worked on it you could turn it into a giant dirt skatepark.

“It was actually quite nice crashing onto the dirt, it was quite soft. You could afford to have some quite big crashes on it, which Kriss and I definitely took advantage of.

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“We had set ourselves five days for filming as we were shooting two other films. Sometimes it can take four days to do a couple of really technical tricks, so to we were really happy to get a full film in the can in that time.

Danny MacAskill in Blackpool. Picture: Dave MackisonDanny MacAskill in Blackpool. Picture: Dave Mackison
Danny MacAskill in Blackpool. Picture: Dave Mackison

“We really wanted to make something fun which would inspire other people to go out on their bike and play about, especially kids.”

MacAskill, whose home island is notorious for its midge swarms, revealed the filming crew had to battle problems with sandflies in the woods.

He added: “Kriss and I were always on the move so we weren’t really affected, but the crew all got their ankles munched. They sometimes had to stand in the same place for an hour or so for a specific trick.”

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