‘Mad’ Mike Hughes the limo driver, flat-earther and DIY rocket scientist

When we asked director Toby Brusseau if he ever worried for Mike’s life while shooting ‘Rocketman’, his reply was “Absolutely. All the time. Not only for Mike but for the crew as well”.

 Who could blame him? The 63 year-old retired daredevil and limo driver ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes’ had hatched a crackpot plan to prove that the earth is flat by building a homemade rocket in his garage and launching himself into space.

When seeing Brusseau and co-director Michael Linn’s ultimately hilarious film, viewers too will find themselves watching through their fingers. The buildup to the launch is a chaotic and unnerving mixture of half-baked science, visits to home depot, references to the bible and visibly accumulating work accidents as Mike appears on camera with an increasing array of cuts and bruises. Days before the launch, the rocket even falls off its trailer when being transported to the site. 

But this was exactly what Brusseau had come for. When we asked if he’d expected this level of comedic value, he cryptically replied “I had an inkling”. Inspired by 90s cult documentary « American Movie », the brilliant character study of two friends struggling to make a horror movie, Brusseau immediately took to the story when he came across Mike’s plan online. 

Documentary aficionados watching this film will undoubtedly confirm the resemblance. For a start, the cast is just as eclectic. There’s Pat, a god-fearing, vaping, friendly neighbour who spends the entirety of the film trying to convince passersby that its now “peace in” and not “peace out”. There’s Waldo, the only person in the entourage who actually knows anything about rockets but unconvincingly maintains that he doesn’t consider Mike a friend throughout. And then of course there’s Mad Mike himself, who openly admits grieving more for the passing of his first cat Jojo than for his parents’ death, doesn’t believe in gravity and holds the Guinness World Record for the longest ever limousine ramp jump.

The trios’s fractious relationship is a constant source of entertainment, leading to some unbelievable one-liners, such as Pat quashing Mike’s unrealistic expectations by saying that "there ain’t gonna be two thousand people watching, I mean shoot you only got 65$ on GoFundMe”.

As funny as this film is, it would be unfair to completely write off the team of ageing retirees as complete fools. Although the flat earth theory is obviously misguided, their real focus is on the construction of a genuine steam rocket – no mean feat. Brusseau reminds us that “they worked sun-up to sun-down” and there is no denying that Mike shows astonishing belief, commitment and bravery in completing the outlandish challenge he set himself.

He goes on to sum up the film brilliantly : “sure, it's comedic, but there's heart, drama, and a feel good ending”. But, what Brusseau expected least during the filming was that he’d be cheering Mike on himself and by the end the film, we were too. 

You can see ‘Rocketman’ on Amazon Prime at the link below.

UPDATE: Sadly, on Saturday 22nd February, Mike Hughes, 64, made a second launch attempt that proved to be fatal. One of his parachutes was destroyed during his ascent and the remaining two failed to deploy. A Science Channel team filmed the attempt in the making of an amateur rocket-making show. Mike was pronounced dead at the scene. You can read more here.