A Where Are They Now DisPatch: HHS ’90 Alum Matt Hoffman

Herndon High grad Matt Hoffman has spent the past 16 years living his dream as a working actor in Hollywood.

He has appeared in numerous national commercials, television shows, feature films and has now teamed up with long-time friend and actor Norman Lehnert (127 Hours) for a travel documentary. The two will ride a 1946 BMW motorcycle equipped with sidecar 3,000 miles from New York to Los Angeles via Route 66, with Lehnert riding sidecar and directing the project while Hoffman drives and cinematographer Travis MacRitchie films the adventure.

Hoffman and Lehnert have spent the past two weeks raising funds for the expedition and documentary through the website www.kickstarter.com. As of Sept. 5, family, friends and fans have pledged $7,535 to the dynamic duo, which hopes to meet their goal of $20,000 by their September 15th deadline.

“We’re hoping this will catch on virally and spread like wildfire where everyone is donating five dollars here, ten dollars there,” Lehnert said. “If everyone donates twenty bucks, that’s only 1,000 people.”

The genesis of the project occurred when Lehnert purchased the BMW bike on the Internet one night. However, a dilemma presented itself as the motorcycle sat in a garage in Homer, New York and Lehnert and Hoffman reside in Los Angeles. He did not have the $800 to ship the bike to Southern California so he decided it might be fun to fly back East and drive cross-country. Unfortunately, one thing stood in the way of that happening… Lehnert has never even sat on a motorcycle. But he knew his good friend Matt has more than 20 years of experience riding everything from street bikes to choppers. So, the begging initiated.

“No [expletive] way,’” Hoffman said to Lehnert when asked to accompany him on the journey. “It didn’t sound like a vacation to me.” 

Hoffman was, to say he least, hesitant about joining the expedition when Lehnert first approached him about the idea of riding across the nation on a 65-year-old motorcycle with a sidecar at a maximun speed of 45 mph. Lehnert became desperate to get his buddy on board and schemed quickly to find a way to persuade his friend.

“No way he was going to do it. So, I talked to a director of photography friend of mine (MacRitchie) and I pitched him the idea of shooting a documentary and he said ‘[heck] yes,’” Lehnert said. “I said ‘I have this friend Matt who said ‘no’ but I think we can get him to [drive] it.’ So, we decided to shoot a hidden camera kind of “Punk’d” video in this bar and I figured we could use the footage in the opening scene.”

The plan worked. Hoffman caved. His love of motorcycles and life-long desire to drive across the United States became his motivation for joining his pal on the two-and-a-half-week excursion beginning this October.

“We had talked about it once or twice about me just going out there and [following] him riding across before we even talked about filming it,” Hoffman said. “I said ‘that would be cool’ and then he brought my name into it. So, he knew I liked the idea and he was kind of like a used car salesman with that.”

The adventurers-slash-filmmakers have mapped out their journey starting in Homer, where they will begin their trek to Chicago and hop on Route 66 all the way to Santa Monica, California. But they want to get the biggest bang for their buck. So, they plan on seeing as many bizarre landmarks as possible, along with some of the more common tourist spots.

“Everything from odd little hotels like the Dinosaur Inn, ridiculous motor lodges, famous eateries and the whole gamut,” Lehnert said. “And you can add to that different sight-seeing, like the biggest ball of tinfoil to the Grand Canyon.”

Hoffman hopes to enrich his passion for motorcycles by meeting fellow enthusiasts around the country while on this rather unorthodox vacation.

“We want to talk to interesting people and see interesting places all across America. We’re going to try and hook up with individual motorcycle clubs from different states,” he said. “And Café Racers, where people take English and Japanese bikes from the 60s and 70s and chop them down. It started in England where they raced from coffee shop to coffee shop. It’s making a huge resurgence in the states.”

He added that he hopes to visit some ghostly residential areas as well.

“We want to stop by some haunted places,” Hoffman said. “There are shows out there, and as much as I think they are a little more produced than reality, I would still like to check it out.”

Any good film or television show needs drama. Lehnert and Hoffman both agree that given their circumstances of driving a motorcycle twice their age for thousands of miles over mountains and through deserts, a lack of drama should not be an issue. Add to that the constant bickering and squabbling the two enjoy dishing out to one another; the documented experience should definitely provide plenty of entertainment for the masses.

“We’re also going to be documenting everything leading up to the trip. I’m going to be taking a motorcycle driving class so that should be kind of entertaining,” Lehnert said. “Also, when we get to Homer, we’re going to Johnson Motors and [the owner] is going to give us a crash course on fixing the bike. He’s probably going to give us a bag of spare parts. We’ll be filming that all as well.”

The director has recently found inspiration for his project while watching actor Ewan McGregor’s television show “The Long Way Down and The Long Way Around” which follows McGregor's voyage through Europe by motorcycle.

“It’s basically kind of what we’re doing, except further, with much nicer bikes and a lot more money,” Lehnert said. “So ours is like a satirical version of that.”

Hoffman agreed and said the documentary should end up having the tone of "Hunter S. Thompson meets Charles Kuralt." Hoffman and Lehnert plan on entering the finished film into festivals and pitching it to several networks such as National Geographic, The Travel Channel, Discovery, The Speed Network and Spike.

One thing is for sure. The two could not be at more polar ends of the spectrum when it comes to their feelings regarding travel. Hoffman loves to roam the earth, having been to his wife Christine's native land of South Africa several times among many other places including Switzerland, The Czech Republic, and Thailand. He and Christine have also planned a trip to Italy later this year.

And what did Lehnert, the man who will be riding shotgun 20-inches above the pavement in what looks like a bucket for 17 days, say when asked if he likes to travel?

“No, I [expletive] hate it. I actually get fussy if I’m in a car for more than an hour.”

Yes. This experience will definitely be entertaining.

Make a donation and watch the hidden camera video at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/40595891/view-from-a-sidecar-the-documentary?ref=live

Note: People who donate on the 'above' website will receive certain gifts in return, depending on the donation amount, ranging from bumper stickers to Executive Producer Credits, travel accommodations and tickets to the Premiere of the documentary “View From a Sidecar.”

See Hoffman and Lehnert’s website for more details at: www.viewfromasidecar.com