The “Silence of the Lambs” rapper has joined with Amazon Prime to convey the story of BMX legend John Buultjens to premiere on the small screen.
What We Know:
- Rapper Ludacris stars in the forthcoming feature The Ride, which describes Buultjens’ rocky road to success. His story is a tale of abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and homelessness in Glasgow, Scotland, before being adopted by Eldridge (played by Ludacris) and Marianna Buultjens (played by Sasha Alexander).
- Eldridge presented Buultjens with a BMX bike after he fell in complete love with cycling after watching Steven Spielberg’s ET as a kid. He would continue to find fame riding and designing these bikes.
Glasgow-born BMX star @JohnBuultjens has been reunited with his childhood social worker after more than 30 years. pic.twitter.com/LtmX352abu
— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) August 20, 2019
- Buultjens made the following statement of his adoptive father, who immigrated from Sri Lanka:
“It makes me sick to think about it now, but I was ashamed, and I used to walk at a distance behind dad. This was a man who did so much for me and showed me for the first time in my life what love meant, and I was ashamed because he looked different to me.”
- His life would convert into a movie after meeting Hollywood producer Ali Afshar. The two spoke it up about Buultjens’ difficult childhood and how he found salvation through his adoptive family.
- During a 2018 interview, Buultjens told The Guardian that “it’s the typical thing you hear in Hollywood, isn’t it, making your life into a movie”. He mentions that he did not take it seriously, but then everything started to get more and more serious and then gained momentum until they heard that not only was the film getting made, but Chris :Ludacris” Bridges was playing his dad.
- During the same interview, Buultjens states that any chance he got as a teenager, he was riding his bike, dedicating himself to learning every single thing he could. He mentioned it gave him friends, a community, and a feeling of self-belief he had never had before.
Alex Ranarivelo directs this film. The Ride is set to be on Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 13. Preview the trailer above.
