GHS grad has ‘extremely wild’ ride in action-movie-related job
California entrepreneur Zachary Lim Eubank, a 2002 Gainesville High School graduate, rides with a stunt driver during the filming of a trailer for the action-packed “Hobbs and Shaw” movie, which premieres Aug. 2 and is part of the “Fast and Furious” franchise starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Eubank’s live production company, Hyper RPG, was asked to participate in the trailer by NBC Universal.
Zachary Eubank, owner and chief creative officer of the California-based Hyper RPG company, and co-workers Adam Hlava and Agustin Rios were excited about the experience of riding with a movie stunt driver, but Eubank said that the real treat came at the end of the day when he got to drive a Porsche RTS 3 with a professional trainer. “I finally got to put all that curvy highway driving from back home to the test!” the former Pontiac resident said.
When NBC Universal studios called former Pontiac resident Zachary Eubank’s Los Angeles-based live production company, Hyper RPG, to see if there was any interest in participating in a race track event for the soon-to-be-released action movie “Hobbs & Shaw,” it wasn’t hard to say yes. “Hobbs & Shaw,” which premieres Friday, Aug. 2, is part of the “Fast and Furious” movie franchise starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Very fast cars, impressive driving and non-stop action are hallmarks of the movies.
“We’re big fans of the Fast and Furious franchise here at Hyper RPG, so it was a huge treat to be asked to the event,” said Eubank, a 2002 Gainesville High School graduate and the son of Norman and Karen Eubank of Pontiac. “NBC Universal reached out to us to see if we were interested in participating in the event based on the content we had produced for our YouTube channel in relation to the ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ movie. They liked the work we had done and wanted to know if we would be interested in creating content from the race track event for our channel.”
Eubank said his company, Hyper RPG (also known as Hyper Rabbit Media LLC) focuses primarily on audience engagement content, where the audience has input into what happens on screen. “But we provide recorded content as well,” he said. “Our community-driven broadcasting channel features role-playing games (RPGs), innovative tabletop and video games, and in real life (IRL) adventures.”
Part of the track experience involved watching a trailer of the “Hobbs & Shaw” movie on a laptop while the stunt driver executed high-performance maneuvers. “It was an extremely wild experience to try and watch a trailer for an action-packed film while being slung around a race track like a rag doll,” Eubank said. “Honestly, I’m surprised I did not throw up on camera by the end of the trailer.”
Eubank said the real treat was getting to drive a Porsche RTS 3 with a professional trainer at the end of the day. “I finally got to put all that curvy highway driving from back home to the test, in a totally legal way,” he said.
Readers can follow Hyper RPG’s adventures on youtube.com/hyperrpg or twitch.tv/hyperrpg. “Be advised,” Eubank warned with a grin, “we are a strange bunch.”
Eubank is the chief creative officer of the company. His wife, Malika Lim Eubank, is the chief executive officer, and brother Lucas Eubank, a 2010 GHS graduate, is the executive producer.