Johnny Knoxville Says Evel Knievel Hustled Caesars Palace in ‘Being Evel’ Clip (Exclusive Video)

Documentary on the famous daredevil premieres in theaters and VOD on Aug. 21

Evel Knievel had to con his way into his now infamous 1967 attempt to jump the fountain at Caesars Palace on a motorcycle, according to Johnny Knoxville in his new documentary “Being Evel.”

“So Evel wants to do this stunt in Vegas, but no one knows who the hell he is,” Knoxville says in an exclusive clip of the documentary obtained by TheWrap. “So he switches into hustler mode.”

The daredevil, whose full name was Robert Craig Knievel, then told every press outlet he could find that he was going to be making the jump. “He called Jay Sarno, the guy who runs Caesars,” Knoxville revealed. “And each time he would call as a different person and each time he would mispronounce his own name.”

The trick worked, and Knievel made a deal with Sarno to jump the 140 foot gap across the fountains in front of the legendary Las Vegas casino.

The documentary takes viewers inside the life the legendary stuntman. Academy Award winner Daniel Junge directed the film and features interviews with Johnny Knoxville, Mat Hoffman, George Hamilton, Shelly Saltman, Frank Gifford, Tony Hawk, Geraldo Rivera, X Games champion Travis Pastrana and the Knievel family.

HeLo and Dickhouse Productions produced the film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in February. Knoxvilled appears in the doc and produced along with Brendan Kiernan, Justin Moore-Lewy, Mat Hoffman and Jeff Tremaine.

“Being Evel” debuts in theaters and VOD on Aug. 21.

Watch the video.


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