In 1989 the rodeo world was shaken to it's core as one of the best to ever ride bulls, Lane Frost, was tragically killed in Cheyenne. When Hollywood came calling a few years later to make a movie, it was so important to so many people that Lane was cast in the proper way.
Director John G. Avildsen hit a home run, or in this case had a 90 point ride, when he cast Luke Perry as Lane Frost.
Perry not only took the role by the horns, literally, but he genuinely cared about how he played Lane. Talking to Lane's friends and family about how he should do certain things in the movie, '8 Seconds.'
“We are so saddened by the death of Luke Perry," Lane Frost's parents said in a statement. "He has become one of ours as we became close during the filming of the movie. He was so polite and respectful to us and would even come to us to ask how Lane would react in some situations. He got on several bulls before and during the filming, so he understood what it took to be a bull rider. He had the utmost respect and admiration for bull riders, and even though he went on to do so many different things, there was always a bond between him and the bull riding world."
Perry, who had never even ridden a horse before, enrolled at Gary Leffew’s bull riding school in California to help prepare for the role. Gary had this to say about Perry today...
Without a doubt, Perry brought rodeo into the lives of countless people who may have never been around the sport without it. Cody Lambert, who was one of the PBR's co-founders, and one of Lane's friends portrayed in '8 Seconds,' summed it up well. “It is funny that this many years later there is not an event that we go to that somebody does not come up with their kid and they want to tell me how many times they have seen ‘8 Seconds’ or want to ask me something about the movie or want me to sign a DVD,” Lambert said. “It brought a lot of attention to our sport."
Sure, Luke Perry had other great roles, but you'll never convince me that he played a more important role than the one in '8 Seconds.' The world is a better place because Luke Perry was here, and we'll all certainly miss him!