"We either go one direction, left, which would be socialism. Or right, which would be people trying to make the money themselves."
Surfers around the world are remembering Chuck Norris, this morning, after the renowned martial artist and surf pioneer breathed his last breath overnight. The 86-year-old, born Carlos Ray Norris in Oklahoma, was hospitalized in Kauai after suffering what was described a “medical emergency.”
The upper-middle-aged, here, are, of course, thinking back on Norris’ many acclaimed pictures, including stealing the show from Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon, and his critically-acclaimed book Winning Tournament Karate.
Those younger, recalling Norris as one of the very first memes with “Chuck Norris facts” like “They wanted to add Chuck Norris’ face to Mt. Rushmore but the granite is not tough enough for his beard.”
But front of mind, for surfers, is Norris being the first man to ever surf Nazare in a truck.
Pedro Miranda describing the moment eight years ago thusly:
The latest Commercial by Toyota USA, was directed by the renowned Agency Saatchi & Saatchi featuring Chuck Norris, with drone footage of Giant Nazaré captured the Portuguese Surf Producers Máquina Voadora – Produções.
Saatchi and Saatchi thankfully skips the tropes of spinning kicks and “Chuck Norris facts,” instead creating an enjoyably bizarre scenario where Norris’ signature imbues a truck with the power to surf giant Nazaré (at 00:36-00:40 of the video), climb trees and defeat criminals in hand-to-door combat.
A member of Máquina Voadora’s team explained that the drone footage was captured in December 2017 during a Big Paddle Session, and dozens of other waves were previously analysed in order to find the exact match needed for this production. “We just knew that a wave was going to be used on the commercial, and that they needed to insert something on the wave with CGI, we’d never have imagined that it would be the Truck Norris… Epic! We’re really glad to be part of this, Chuck Norris is the ultimate badass, a perfect match for a Nazaré Bomb!”
Rip in peace, Chuck Norris.