Director Jeff Tremaine knows people will point out that "Jackass: Best and Last" isn't the first time Johnny Knoxville and his team have publicly stated that it's the last "Jackass" film.
«"Every movie we made, we envisioned it as our last," Tremaine said during a guest appearance on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast this week. "But this is the first time I've truly felt like the work is finished. I'm acknowledging it now, that the work is finished. And part of that is because they can't do the same thing in Knoxville anymore.".
In his previous film, "Jackass Forever," Knoxville was struck by a bull and carried off on a stretcher. The film depicts him leaving the hospital with a broken wrist and in good spirits, but it later emerged that the long-term consequences were far more serious.
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«"He suffered a traumatic brain injury, and it became clear we couldn't hit him in the head anymore," Tremaine said. "We could kick him in the groin and hit him in the body, but the risk of getting another concussion was very high.".
Jackass: Best and Last features archived footage of the franchise and behind-the-scenes footage of what happened before the fatal bull encounter that sent Knoxville into semi-retirement, including the fact that he had previously done a take in which he took a hard hit from a smaller bull, but it didn't result in the dramatic fall or laughs that would have been necessary for the final cut.
«"It's horrific because he broke two ribs from the first blow; the bull hit him really hard," Tremaine said. "In a worst-case scenario, in my opinion, it's much worse than it looks, and that was it. The blow was so hard that it didn't look impressive enough in the movie.".
In the episode "The Best and the Last," we see Tremaine and Knoxville watching footage of the first bullfight on an iPad, with Knoxville asking the director if they need to do another take.
«"I've got two guys in front of me who both know we can't do this. He needed me to say, 'We have to do this again,' and I hesitate to say that because I'm not the one standing there risking my life," Tremaine said, reflecting on the irony of a situation he'd encountered many times before. "The funny thing about 'Jackass' is if you set up a motorcycle jump and he makes it, they have to do it again. The jump has to fail. It's designed to fail. That's exactly what we want. But how do you do it spectacularly without killing him?"„
Tremaine, noting that he turns 60 this year, said, "I just don't want to keep this up forever." He added that he thinks the craziest aspect of having to end the series on its own terms is that it went on for so long.
«"It's crazy that we're even here discussing 'Jackass,'" Tremaine said. "If you were watching that show for the first time, you'd be like, 'Oh, this is going to burn out quickly and blaze a trail. It's not meant to last.' This isn't a marathon for this band. The fact that we've lasted 26 years is incredible.".
In 2022, the show "Jackass Forever" added a new, younger supporting cast, fueling speculation about a possible continuation of the franchise without the main original cast, but Tremaine also dispelled those speculations.
«"We could bring in new people, and of course there are some cool guys among them. But I'd have to find a new cool guy in myself, too," Tremaine said. "'Jackass' is about the guys. It seems like a bigger idea, but it's really the guys who make it magical. It would be hard for me to just find that new magic.".
The final shot in the final film, "Jackass," is a behind-the-scenes shot of Tremaine and Knoxville in a motel room after a day of shooting the first film, "Jackass: The Movie." They reflect on the "chaotic" events of that day, admitting they were terrified by how out of control everything had gotten. Knoxville smiles and says he enjoyed it, but Tremaine is clearly traumatized—a side of his personality rarely shown, as the director is often perceived as a cheerful prankster who pushes boundaries with his actors.
«"He flipped the golf cart that night [in 2002's "Jackass: The Movie"), and I thought he was dead," said Tremaine, who can be heard panicking as he races toward Noville (video above). "From my perspective, the cart swallowed him and broke his neck. I even thought he might have been decapitated because the cart was blocking my view. It was terrifying, and then he popped out. I was in shock the whole night.".
Tremaine continued, talking about the behind-the-scenes motel footage of him and Knoxville interacting, and why he used it as the final shot in the final film: "It's so funny because I had absolutely no memory of the camera being on. It's just that one of our producers was reviewing the footage and saw it, and I was like, 'Damn, this captures my relationship with Johnny so well.'".
To listen to the full interview with Tremaine, subscribe to the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.