- This topic has 48 replies, 22 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 3 months ago by
.
- Posts
He might have all the trappings, but what good are they when you are so afraid of failure you’ll ride half a ton of hyped animal over big black fences when your lung is punctured and your collarbone broken?
If that’s happiness, you can keep it.
So all jockeys riding carrying an injury are unhappy and afraid of failure? Some rare psycho-babble this Steeplechasing, I couldn’t disagree more.
BUY THE SUN
“Gazza’s problems are not
solely related to drink, that’s just one of them.”I think you are 100% wrong there mate.
Well we will have to disagree there TTC, I think he has psychological
issues, including anxiety and panic attacks, which he has spoken about
in various interviews. He also is an alcoholic, the two don’t go well
together.However, as I pointed out and further explained in my follow up post,
when I mentioned Gazza I was using him simply as an example of someone
who couldn’t cope with the change from being involved in sport at the
top level, and found it hard to find something to fill that gap.I think AP will find it difficult to adapt to a completely different
lifestyle, as racing has been his life. If I gave the impression I
thought he would turn into Gazza markII, that was not my intention.He might have all the trappings, but what good are they when you are so afraid of failure you’ll ride half a ton of hyped animal over big black fences when your lung is punctured and your collarbone broken?
If that’s happiness, you can keep it.
So all jockeys riding carrying an injury are unhappy and afraid of failure? Some rare psycho-babble this Steeplechasing, I couldn’t disagree more.
Well no, probably none of them. But AP has said as much. That’s the point.
Mike
having watched the film, if the ‘impossible’ happened in the next couple of years and someone rode 300 winners in a season, I think he’d find it a daily torture so savage that it could prompt a comeback.
It might happen this season at this rate!
Mike
TTC, you’re building a Straw Man here.
Of course many jockeys ride with an injury, and I’m sure most or many are as ‘happy’ as the next man. I’m sure the odd one has ridden with a broken collarbone (though usually, when returning too soon having been stood down). And there might be one or two (though I’ve never heard it confirmed) who have ridden with a punctured lung. But to ride with both those injuries, when they’ve just happened, i.e., the same afternoon…?
As for the psycho-babble, as others have said, McCoy has never hidden the fact that he’s a tortured soul. If he hadn’t confessed to it, it hardly needs a specialist to recognise it.
What a typically British thread this has turned in to.
Anyone going the extra yard in their professional career to reach the very top is unhappy and a tortured soul. Can’t you dramatize it a bit more?
If you didn’t like the film fair enough, but u sound like an even more condescending version of Jeremy Kyle!
BUY THE SUN
Well, you are definitely wrong there – it’s impossible for anyone to be more condescending than Jeremy Kyle :)
I haven’t watched it yet, but the whole premise of this film makes me feel cynical. To me, these kind of productions are similar to Piers Morgan’s Life Stories or sporting autobiographies. You read or watch because you want to find out what makes these immensely talented, unique, great people who they are. You want to understand their secrets and better your own life. You want to feel like the person is off-camera, letting their guard down and being completely open. They rarely are. Both the ‘tell-all interview’ and the sporting autobiography are (without exception in all I have read or watched) always disappointments. You have to be thick if you come away feeling anything other than cheated out of your £9.99, 60 minutes or whatever you committed.
I get a similar vibe from ‘Being AP’. Surely the whole thing is choreographed to make the subject look good or convey a certain image. Given the timing alongside his retirement, one has to suspect McCoy was looking to earn a little extra ‘camera time’ to press his prospects of finding work in the media. I presume McCoy was the ultimate moderator throughout – anything unfavourable or at all unscripted was cut. Maybe there is high emotion (or hyperbole) at times, but I doubt this is an intimate portrait of the man.
I won’t make a special attempt to watch this, but might give it a go one day. I’m disillusioned with the whole genre and, while hope this is the rare exception, I doubt it.
If at all interested TYF, try Andre Agassi’s AB. Extremely self critical and shocking. I couldn’t believe the famous ponytail from his Wimbledon success was a syrup!
BUY THE SUN
As a confirmed life-long abstainer from Alcohol, McCoy is highly unlikely to suddenly turn in to a Gascoigne type character. Fortunately for him, he doesn’t have that particular devil in him. And alcohol generally leads to other substance abuse, so he’ll be safe enough I would think.
I think he’ll end up assistant trainer to David Pipe within 12 months – pure guess.
Maybe I should have made it clearer that I was talking about sportsmen in general
who struggle after being in the limelight, Gazza was just such a character who came
to mind as I was typing.Gazza was an alcoholic before he quit football. Just that the problem got worse thereafter as he probably had more time on his hands.
If at all interested TYF, try Andre Agassi’s AB. Extremely self critical and shocking. I couldn’t believe the famous ponytail from his Wimbledon success was a syrup!
Never!!!!
Hi, just popped in, for once in a blue moon.
Interesting to read Triptych Jac’s comments re never having been a fan of AP McCoy. Think I’ve seen this comment several times from the good lady on this forum before. Wonder why.
Me, I was a big fan of AP, though not in the latter half of his career I must admit, but rather very early on, in the mid-1990’s when he started riding in England as a 20-year-old conditional, I think. This was before everyone had cottoned onto his talents.
In those days I used to spend many a lunch break from work in the local bookies (sandwich in one hand and tabloid racing pages in the other), where in winter I enjoyed watching a few early jump races. Having witnessed a couple of AP’s wins (at juicy prices) I checked the race-cards and thought to myself, “Who’s this young lad AP McCoy? Where’s he sprung from? He can ride a bit, can’t he?” Thereafter I followed him almost religiously and had a fair bit of fun with my minimum-staked patents and lucky 15’s etc incorporating his mounts, as AP would invariably bag a winner or two at least, at fair odds, on a regular basis. Those were the days.
Having said that, I haven’t seen the film but may catch up on it later.
Btw, Marmite on Toast?? Naah! not for me. Wholemeal’s fine, toasted and buttered, with a generous layer of orange marmalade on top and a pot of PG, white, no sugar – any morning.
Jim
Chanelle was the star of it.
Gentle. Feminine. Vulnerable. Devoted. Internally strong.
Love oozing from her.
Hope their doing okay.
Nice one, Chanelle.
Late to this, but as the producer of Being AP, I’m intrigued by some of the comments on here. Whilst no producer enjoys reading negative comments about their work, the original review was thoughtful and made some good points. We argued long and hard about the right approach to AP’s story and decided that it was basically a story of a decision. Personally and in retrospect, I wish we had focused more on the detail of the drama of racing, but I lost that argument. Cutting to an expert to deconstruct AP’s psyche doesn’t work in a cinematic treatment; fine for TV where everything has to be made simple and obvious, but less so in a film where pictures and sounds shot in the moment allow the viewer to create their own version of the story. Show not tell should always be the documentary makers mantra. I’m less impressed with those who seem happy to comment on a film they haven’t seen; that seems an odd position. And it is important
There are some points to be made here.
1. AP did not have editorial control over the film. He trusted us to make an honest and fair film and believes we have.
2. We made a conscious decision early on to try and avoid all the normal sports docs cliches and stereotypes. Please do not confuse Being AP with the standard, straight to video sports docs. We were very proud that the film was selected for the Toronto Film Festival, one of the big 4 in the world. This is a major accolade and confirmation of the creative strength of our film.
3. We wanted to make a film that appealed equally to the racing community and to those who had never heard of AP. Not an easy challenge, but the overall response from both sides has been overwhelmingly positive.
4. To the poster who is expecting a Piers Morgan Real Lives approach, you cannot be more wrong. For example, there are very few talking heads in the film and that is because we wanted the story to emerge naturally through real voices from the moments we observed.We are very proud of the film. Yes, there are things we could have done differently, but I believe this is a film that racing can celebrate. AP is a fascinating man, far from perfect, but his commitment to the film was admirable. I hope you all get the chance to see it, after which all comments welcome [good and bad].
Nick Ryle
ps. It’s a far superior film to the average Dark Horse; a film about Dream Alliance that manages to avoid talking to Philip Hobbs or Richard Johnson and uses an unfair conceit to portray NH racing as the property of the toffs. But I would say that, wouldn’t I…Nick, it’s very kind of you to respond here. I’ve spoken to, and read of, others who’ve enjoyed the film immensely; any review has to be strictly subjective. I have long marvelled at AP, and it’s been a personal curiosity driving my desire to find out what makes a man, for example, promise himself as AP did at the start of his career ‘No matter how much pain I’m in or how badly injured, I will get to my feet after any fall. I WILL GET TO MY FEET’
I’ve read a fair bit about him, met him briefly at the races and read his autobiogs. This fear aspect comes up time and again, and I understand he’s not alone among highly successful people in this fear of failure. The difference between him and an Oscar-winning actor, or a multiple Olympic champ, is his willingness to embrace savage physical pain, and to risk death daily.
I’m intrigued by what the source of his fear is. I suspect the man himself doesn’t even know, and that’s why I believe that it would have been of great interest if an expert could have been found (again, easier said than done) who could have said, ‘The true driver behind your success is…..’ That, for me, and I suspect for many, not least AP himself, would have been a mighty revelation, and one that, for once would see the ‘tell’ triumph over the ‘show’.
Anyway, since none of us knows what drives AP, I thought I’d at least let you know what drove the review.
Happy Christmas
Joe
There was a tv documentary years ago which featured several jump jockeys..one of them being Luke Harvey. Now that one was interesting and good fun.
Prefer the Luke Harvey, Barney Curley and McCririck show myself
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.