The tough, gritty streets of “Dogtown” in Venice, California didn’t look like much to outsiders, but to a handful of teenage surfers (Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams) in the 1970s they were hard, winding, sloping inspiration for a revolutionary style of skateboarding. Transferring the aggressive wave-riding moves to concrete from their death-defying surfing skills at the Pacific Ocean Park pier, the Z-Boys – mostly kids with rough home lives and rougher attitudes – became sensations, local legends.

They were freestyle wizards on urethane wheels, turning empty pools into arenas of wild, beautiful athleticism, the genesis of today’s “extreme sports”. Skating competitions don’t know what to make of them, girls threw themselves at them, and suddenly marketers and promoters wanted to grab a piece of them and what was fast becoming a worldwide counterculture phenomenon. But would the friendships of this tightly-knit group last as a teenager pastime turned into big business, and energetic personalities became out-of-control celebrities?

Columbia Pictures presents a TriStar Pictures release, Lords of Dogtown, a Linson Films Production in association with Senator International. The film stars Emile Hirsh as Jay Adams, Victor Rasuk as Tony Alva, John Robinson as Stacy Peralta, Michael Angarano as Sid, Nikki Reed as Kathy Alva and Heath Ledger as Skip Engblom.

The film also features performances by Rebecca De Mornay, Johnny Knoxville, and numerous faces from the world of skateboarding. Catherine Hardwicke (winner, Best Director at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival for Thirteen) directs from a script written by Stacy Peralta (Best Director at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival for Dogtown and Z-Boys). John Linson is the producer and Art Linson, David Fincher and Joe Drake are the executive producers. The director of photography is Elliot Davis and Chris Gorak is the production designer.