Like Harvey Like Son

In 2018 ultrarunner Harvey Lewis III set out to complete the Appalachian Trail in record time. With his 78 year old father turned crew chief Harvey Jr, Harvey ran day after day through the mountains and encountered color characters along the way.

The documentary, originally slated to just be “something” turned into a 90 minute documentary and the decision to do so happened on the first day of Harvey’s run. On that first day, a day rattled by a tropical storm, Harvey ran more than 60 miles in the Georgia wilderness. Ending just before total darkness, Harvey emerged to find his father completely by himself (along with a small documentary crew but that little tidbit takes away from the romance so just forget that part). “Junior” as Harvey’s father later came to be known was cooking his son’s dinner. Harvey sat down, took off his shoes, Junior sat next to him, and they talked. Not of the 60 miles through a tropical storm, but of home.

“Did you hear from Diane?” Harvey asked of his father.

“Oh yes, she says hello,” Junior replied. You see, this feat wasn’t out of the ordinary for their family. It’s then that Rudy looked at Co-producer Mike from ROAD iD and said, “This is the story. Not the run. But of them two.”

A joint venture between ourselves and ROAD iD, our debut feature length documentary proved to be quite the adventure in its own right. Trekking through the mountains with cinema cameras and drones wasn’t the easiest production of our careers, but once we saw the film festival selections rolling in, it was all worth it. Like Harvey Like Son gained 11 film festival selections and won 3 “Best of” awards.

The scene after the first day of Harvey’s run. Sitting together, eating, and talking about life. Because the run was just “normal.”