Lathan McKay

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Lathan McKay
Born
Erik McKay

(1980-01-10) January 10, 1980 (age 44)
Austin, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Producer
  • historian
  • actor
  • writer
  • entrepreneur
Years active2002–present
Known forCo-founding Evel Knievel Museum
Notable credits
  • I Am Evel Knievel
  • Chasing Evel
  • Being Evel
  • Levelland
  • Road to Nowhere
TelevisionEvel Live 2 (A&E), Collision Course (Reelz)
Parent(s)Karlan McKay
Karen Ann McKay (McCall)
FamilyAmy McKay (sister)
Websitewww.evelknievelmuseum.com

Lathan McKay (born January 10, 1980) is an American producer, historian, actor, writer and co-founder of the Evel Knievel Museum.[1][2] As a former professional skateboarder, he has amassed the largest collection of Evel Knievel memorabilia in the world.[3] The collection now resides at the official Evel Knievel Museum alongside Historic Harley Davidson.[4][5]

Biography[edit]

McKay was born on January 10, 1980 in Austin, Texas. The second of the two children of Karlan McKay and Karen McCall. He and his older sister, Amy, were raised in Missouri City, Texas.

He started skateboarding as a child and became sponsored at 14. Inspired by Evel Knievel, he spent a decade on the road as a professional, breaking for a year to attend college in Austin. McKay became a '70s-era cinephile and was inspired by existential films like Cisco Pike, Night Moves, Charley Varrick, Little Fauss and Big Halsy, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,[6] films by Sam Peckinpah, and particularly Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop.

2003–11

In 2003, McKay starred in Levelland,[7] a film about coming of age in the flatlands of Texas.[8] Several of its non-fictional characters were skateboarders, and director Clark Lee Walker, co-writer of The Newton Boys, cast avid skateboarders to act in the film.[9] Levelland premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival.[10]

In 2004, McKay moved to Los Angeles to continue a career as an actor. As he was looking for a place to live, he was introduced to his favorite film director Monte Hellman by a friend, actor Nicky Katt. Hellman had a spare room in his Laurel Canyon home, and McKay moved in. He performed in several films, and in 2008, he was cast to portray Layne Staley of Alice In Chains[11] in Layne Staley: Get Born Again.[12][13] This biographical film went into production but was never completed due to estate and legal issues.[14][15]

McKay continued to act,[16] but became more interested in all aspects of filmmaking. In 2008 he joined Melissa and Monte Hellman’s newly formed production company, wearing many hats as his late mentor Hellman's assistant on the 2010 Golden Lion award-winning film Road to Nowhere.[17] He also performed and produced alongside the Hellman family.[18]

McKay played a significant role in the re-release of Two-Lane Blacktop,[19] assisting production on Somewhere Near Salinas with Kris Kristofferson and appearing in On the Road Again; Two-Lane Blacktop Revisited,[20] through The Criterion Collection.[21]

Evel Archaeology[edit]

2012–18

Long enamored with his own father's and Evel Knievel's “live your dreams“ philosophy, McKay began his collection of Evel Knievel memorabilia in early 2012.[22] After months of research and lengthy negotiation, he acquired his first set of Knievel's 1974 jump leathers and a performance helmet. Soon after, he traveled to Knievel's hometown of Butte, Montana for the annual Evel Knievel Days celebration.[23][24] Forming connections with Knievel family, crew and fans. During a 2014 interview, McKay noted that none of Knievel's memorabilia was at the celebrations and that Knievel's ramps were left to rot in fields. This helped motivate him and his team.[25][3]

With partnerships from the Knievel family,[26] McKay, Robby Hull and Marilyn Stemp set out to resurrect Evel Knievel Enterprises. Thus began a worldwide hunt for Knievel memorabilia,[27] which McKay termed "Evel Archaeology."[28] By 2015, he owned the largest Evel Knievel collection ever assembled.[29][30] He has exhibited the collection throughout the United States consistently since it was first displayed in 2013.[31][32] It includes six jump bikes; X-rays of Evel's broken bones Knievel's performance leathers; and most iconic helmets, wardrobe, and personal effects.[33][34]

After it was featured on the television series American Trucker, McKay purchased the truck Big Red with the assistance of Robb Mariani.[35] The Mack truck Knievel used as living quarters and bike and ramp hauler and was badly weather-damaged. McKay, Mike Patterson, and his team of restoration experts at Historic Harley-Davidson in Topeka, Kansas, refurbished Big Red.[36] A bolt-by-bolt restoration which took 22 months, 96 people and over $300,000.00[37] The truck's interior and exterior were restored to its exact condition in the 70s when Knievel, at the height of his popularity, travelled in it.[38]

It debuted and led the yearly parade at Evel Knievel Days in Butte in 2015.[39] Driven by Mike Draper,[40] who began driving for Knievel in the early 1970s, Big Red was displayed on tour at events throughout the United States with the support of Mack Trucks.[41] The tour schedule included Evel Knievel days, Sturgis, Hollywood, Texas Motor Speedway and the Great American Trucking Show.[42][43] It was the star attraction at the premiere of the documentary Being Evel.[44][45] Big Red is to be permanently housed at the Evel Knievel Museum, which opened in Topeka, Kansas in July 2017. McKay refers to it as the "mothership" of his collection.[46][47]

McKay was also a co-producer and rare film and photo archivist for the Emmy nominated documentary Being Evel[48][49] with producers Johnny Knoxville[50] and George Hamilton.[51] He appeared in Derik Murray's documentary I Am Evel Knievel,[52] with Matthew McConaughey,[53] for which he was also a co-producer/archivist, and executive produced the Leo Award-winning feature-length documentary Chasing Evel: The Life of Robbie Knievel,[54] which premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and Nashville Film Festival in 2017.[55][56] It was released worldwide in 2018.[57]

2019–20

In 2019 editing began on Resurrecting Evel/Evelution. Both films documenting the undertaking that was the restoration of Evel Knievel's Mack truck and the six-year journey that lead to the opening of the Museum.[58] McKay co-produced and was featured in both the Austin, Texas-based film Off The Record[59] and Reelz channel's Collision Course.[60][61] In April 2019 production began on Evel Live 2 for A&E Networks and the Evel Knievel Museum received a THEA Award awarded by Themed Entertainment Association for being one of the best new attractions in the United States.[62][63][64] Production for NBCUniversal's limited series Evel starring Milo Ventimiglia began in early January, 2020. The limited series was shut down just three days prior to principal photography due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[65][66]

2021–24

In October 2021 Network Entertainment began production on The Evel Way. A biographical series documenting the ten-year journey of Mckay’s Evel Archaeology project intertwined with the reconnecting of Evel’s original crew and the arduous journey to the Snake River Canyon Jump.[67]

In August 2022 It was announced the Evel Knievel Museum was relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada.[68]

In May 2022 History Channel began production on The Icons Who Built America which Mckay appeared, co-produced and provided the original Evel Knievel archival materials.

On June 28, 2023, Variety magazine announced that Mckay’s Sam Peckinpah archive and collection found its permanent home at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[69][70]

Personal life[edit]

The years 2015 to 2017 were fortuitous as the inaugural tour of Big Red (partnering with Mack Trucks) went nationwide. It led the parade at Evel Knievel Days in Butte, Montana. McKay and Doug Danger successfully completed their mutual dream of the world record 22-car jump on Evel's Harley Davidson XR750.[71] During the 75th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally at the legendary Buffalo Chip Campground. In 2015 he again partnered with the Knievel family on Evel Ale, a custom beer made by South Austin Brewery.[72]

The Evel Knievel Museum opened in June 2017.[73][74][75]

In July 2021 The Divine Horsemen released a reunion recording of new material that included a song titled "Falling Forward". Mckay co-wrote the song with founding member Julie Christensen.[76][77]

In October 2021 pre-production began on a feature-length narrative docudrama on Mckay’s life with Derik Murray’s Network Entertainment. Principal photography began in Kansas, California, Idaho, Montana and continues throughout 2023–24.

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Credit Medium
1995 411 Video Magazine - Houston Metrospective Skateboarder (himself) Video magazine
1997 Ten Losers Skateboarder (himself) Video
1997 Austin Stories Skateboarder, Episode 7 MTV series
1999 ATX Skateboarder (himself) Video
2000 Reflection Understood Skateboarder (himself) Video
2000 Miss Congeniality Actor (himself) Feature Film
2001 Logic #2 Scope-Austin Texas Skateboarder (himself) Video magazine
2001 The Right Girl Actor (skateboarder) Film
2002 Pastime Editor, skateboarder (himself) Video feature
2002 The New Guy Stunts (skateboarder) Feature film
2003 Levelland Actor (Nick Stanley) Feature film
2005 Protest Kids Actor (Varan) Short film
2007 Two-Lane Blacktop (Revisited) Production, actor (himself) Short film
2007 Somewhere Near Salinas, Kris Kristofferson Production Short film
2008 Harold Actor (Officer Shannon) Feature film
2009 Layne Staley and Demri Actor (Layne Staley) Short film
2011 Road to Nowhere Associate producer, actor (Erik), director’s assistant Feature film
2011 Trichotomy Writer, actor (The Kid) Video short
2011 Echo Park Love Story Actor (The Artist) Short film
2012 Snake River Canyon Archival Short film
2012 True Evel Archival, film, photo TV documentary
2013 Pure Evel Archival, film, photo TV documentary
2014 I Am Evel Knievel Himself, Archival, Consulting Producer TV documentary
2014 Sal and the Goon Co-executive producer Short film
2014 Evel Knievel Lives On Archival, (himself) Documentary short
2015 Being Evel Co-producer, archival (himself) Feature documentary
2015 Road to the Record; Doug Danger Associate producer TV movie
2016 Color Me Lucky Executive producer, actor (Evel) Video short
2016 Tim Montana - Shredneck USA Himself, Episode 3 Web series
2016 BBC Four Storyville Co-producer, archival, 1 episode TV series
2017 Resurrecting Evel Knievel Director, executive producer, editor (himself) Documentary short
2017 Mysteries at the Museum Archival, contributor (himself), 1 episode TV series
2017 Chasing Evel; The Life of Robbie Knievel Executive producer, contributor (himself), archival Documentary
2018 Collision Course Evel Knievel Reelz Co-producer, Archival, (himself) Reelz TV series
2018 Off the Record Producer, actor (Simms) Feature film
2018 Evel Live Archival History TV series
2019 Evelution; Evel Knievel Director, executive producer, editor, writer (himself) Documentary
2019 Evel Live 2 Panelist (himself), archival History TV series
2020 Evel Live Redemption Panelist (himself), archival History TV series
2020 Evel Associate producer, consulting producer Universal TV series
2020 The Evel Knievel Way 1 & 2 Director, Writer Short Film
2021 Stuntman Archival Film Feature Film
2022 Evel Ways Executive producer, (himself) Feature film
2023 The Icons That Built America Associate Producer, Archival (himself) History TV Series
2024 Talking Evel Associate producer, (himself) Docu-Series

References[edit]

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External links[edit]

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