Daniel Castillo has been on Chocolate Skateboards since it started and his love of skateboarding is easily visible in his fun, technical trick combinations. Whether a youngster with floppy hair and baggy pants or an adult, his energy and enthusiasm over the years hasn't changed much. He's married now and a bit older, and much wiser, and his take on things is still as funny as it ever was. He spoke with ESPN.com about his trip to Spain, why he finds Sean Malto so impressive and what makes Ty Evans and Spike Jonze great motivators.
ESPN.com: What was the main difference between filming for "Hot Chocolate" and filming for "Pretty Sweet"?
Castillo: "Hot Chocolate" was more like a tour video. It only took five months to be made, whereas this video took a couple years. "Hot Chocolate" was dope because I didn't expect it to be that big of a deal, because I thought it was going to be more of a promo video. They ended up making it into a full-length video, which is pretty cool. We went on a month-long tour and they said they were going to make a video of the whole thing. All they said was, "We're going to film you guys doing all kinds of stuff." It didn't feel like it was planned out.
"Pretty Sweet" was definitely planned out.
"Pretty Sweet" was pretty serious, you know what I mean? You know how things are nowadays: It's pretty heavy with all the social media and how everybody's advertising. It's a big deal. Every video we've done at Girl and Chocolate has been a big production, but this one's gnarly because of the types of cameras that were used to make this video, and also the traveling. I didn't travel that much. I went on a couple of trips, with the last one being to Spain at the beginning of the summer.
How was the trip to Spain for you?
Spain was cool because it was the last trip for the whole video, so everybody was on that trip. My wife went out and met me up there, so it was also our honeymoon, so that trip was dope because it was half-skate, half-honeymoon.
Whose part are you looking forward to the most?
Guy Mariano's because he's so focused. I've known Guy since we were 11 and he's more focused now than I've ever seen him before. It's great to see that, especially when you're older, know what I mean? When we were in Spain he would get up early in the morning and go on his own mini-missions by himself, and when he skates he'll land a trick perfectly 10 times in a row, but he'll say, "I have to do it again, it's not good enough." I'm watching and in my mind it looked perfect, but it's rad that he keeps on doing it and doing it.
Who else's skating impressed you while filming this video?
Sean Malto's for sure. I say that because I don't skate with him often and when I do skate with him all I can say is that he's gnarly. I really tripped out when I saw him skate. He's not scared of anything. He'll step up to the biggest rail and make skating it look so easy. It seems like he does it with no hesitation. I guess I've never really seen people go big like that, you know? Not in person, anyways.
Cory Kennedy is one of the best skaters I've ever seen. Elijah Berle's, Stevie Perez's and Vincent Alvarez's parts are going to blow people away for sure. Their energy is impressive.
--Daniel Castillo
Which one of the new Chocolate riders' parts are you most excited to see?
Raven Tershy's and definitely Cory Kennedy's. Cory Kennedy is one of the best skaters I've ever seen. Elijah Berle's, Stevie Perez's and Vincent Alvarez's parts are going to blow people away for sure. Their energy is impressive. It's rad to see the young dudes do their thing. Their level of skating is so sick. They all skate differently, too. Raven skates spots that no one even really skates on the whole team. His part is going to stand out a lot, I'm pretty sure. Vincent with his speed, he's so gnarly. They're a good bunch of kids.
What's it like working with Ty Evans, Spike Jonze, Rick Howard and Mike Carroll?
They're great motivators. Rick and Mike are rad dudes and I'm glad I skate for them. They're fun and not so serious, which is pretty cool. Ty can get kind of gnarly in a good way. He's just a good dude because he knows how to push you. I've been working with them for so long that it doesn't feel like they're my bosses. It's like we're all homies. Ty will say, "This would be so cool if you do this," and then explain it. When Ty explains something, it's so rad, because you know it's going to look dope. That's how it is with him and Spike. You know that what you're filming is going to be pretty cool. I trust their judgement.
What's your best memory from this video?
I'm going to say the first thing that's at the top of my head: When we were in Spain, we were partying a lot, and that was fun. Well, not really partying a lot, but we would go to this club, Jamboree, every night. The reason why that was fun for me is because it doesn't feel like I'm going to go on many trips anymore. It feels like that might be my last trip, so it was fun hanging out with all the new dudes.
