STACK NZ Apr #83

CINEMA FEATURE

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STACK met with CHIPS stars Dax Shepard, Michael Peña and Kristen Bell to talk motorcycles, buddy cops and bringing the cheesy '70sTV series to the big screen. Words Gill Pringle

W hen Dax Shepard told his wife he was planning on writing, directing, starring, and doing all the motorbike stunts in his next movie project, she gave him her full blessing. “In truth, Dax is safer going 80mph on a motorcycle blindfolded than I am walking in a straight line,” says Kristen Bell, who also snagged a role in her hubby’s movie CHIPS , playing his heartless ex-wife.

and a painkiller habit who is teamed with Michael Peña’s Frank 'Ponch' Poncherello, an oversexed undercover Fed. Both rookies take to the California Highway Patrol – what could possibly go wrong when these two get a badge and a bike, and go in search of an inner ring of dirty cops? Shepard and Peña share the same character names as their predecessors in the cheesy '70s TV series CHiPs , Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada, but that’s where the similarity ends in this (US) hard-R buddy cop comedy loaded with action and stunts. Unlike Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson’s send- up of another famous '70s TV cop show, Starsky & Hutch , Shepard had other ideas.

trust his moviemaking perspective. I think he’s very smart. Every time he says something, it's very inspiring,” says Bell, who has worked with Shepard on Veronica Mars, The Boss and Hit and Run. “We both believe that you have to make the kinds of movies you would want to see, otherwise you are guessing what the audience wants. He loves action and comedy and he also loves bikes, so this was perfect.”

STACK 's Gill Pringle with Kirsten Bell

Shepard’s CHIPS sees him as Jon Baker, a former X-Games star with a busted body

“I always want to work with my husband. If I could only work with him, I would because I

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APRIL 2017

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