IPOD
RADIO
Mark Zupan
By Daniel Robert Epstein
Jan 23, 2007
Mark Zupan is guy that you never want to battle in any court. Even though Zupan is a quadriplegic he still retains enough power of movement to make him the captain of the United States quadriplegic wheelchair rugby team. Zupan first came to fame as one of the stars of the Oscar nominated documentary Murderball and since then he’s become the spokesman for the sport. Now Zupan explains everything about his life in his new book, Gimp: When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold -or You Can Play.
Buy Gimp
Daniel Robert Epstein: Are you at work?
Mark Zupan: Yeah, I am a civil engineer.
DRE:
How’s that going?
MZ:
Good, this is the second day I’ve been here in maybe three and a half months.
DRE:
Because of the book tour and all that?
MZ:
Well, just everything. I’ve been busy with the book, with rugby and I do lectures as well.
DRE:
You’re a big star now.
MZ:
I don’t know about big star. I’m just recognized. It’s odd. It’s definitely different from everyday life. Two years ago I wouldn’t have told you that I’d be doing what I’m doing.
DRE:
So what made you sit down and decide to write this book?
MZ:
I got approached. Someone said, “Hey you want to write a book?” I was like, “Ok.” I didn’t really sit there and say, “Yeah this is something that I planned on doing.” Dana Shapiro, one of the directors of Murderball came up and said, “Hey, did you ever think of writing a book?” I said, “No but I guess I could.” He was like, “Here I’ll hook you up with a literary guy” and we went from there.
DRE:
What was the process of writing the book?
MZ:
I worked with Tim Swanson who is the West Coast Bureau Chief at Premiere Magazine and this is the first book he’s ever written. So it was a new experience for both of us.
DRE:
Were you actually sitting there typing or did you work with him?
MZ:
I worked together with him. How it initially started was that I wrote up my speech and put an outline together of my life and the stories and what have you. He interviewed a bunch of my friends to get more in-depth with it and then he’d write some, he’d send it over and I’d change some things and we’d go from there. It was a lot of talking on the phone.
DRE:
In the book you don’t talk a ton about rugby. Was that because you felt it was covered enough in the movie?
MZ:
We went into more of the process of getting hurt and going through what you have to go through. We touched on rugby to an extent. The book could have been double the size. We just found that it worked how we had it. We just touch on rugby because I have so many stories from rugby. You don’t want the book to sit there and go, “Mmmm, please hurry up, let’s finish this part and go on.” We wanted to keep it moving.
DRE:
Was it a difficult process to forgive your friend that caused you to be in a wheelchair?
MZ:
No, I forgave him the day he walked into the hospital. Shit happens. It’s not his fault I was in the back of the pickup truck. It’s not his fault that I broke my neck. It is his fault that he drove. But it’s all about choices you make. If we made these choices individually and didn’t string them together, then life would have been totally different. It’s just that’s how life is, you make one choice and another choice falls into it and then you go from there so it wasn’t very difficult. We’ve had hard times and we had difficult stuff to talk about but it is all part of life.
DRE:
Did you have this great attitude even before the accident?
MZ:
Yeah I’ve always pretty much been this way. If somebody means something to me and shit happens, I’m going to forgive you. It’s just a matter of time.
DRE:
I read that you said getting hurt was the best thing that ever happened to you.
MZ:
Yeah if you look at what I’ve been able to do and see, it’s amazing. I’ve met more people and experienced more things as a result. So it has been the best thing.
DRE:
Were you into sports before the accident?
MZ:
I’ve always been athletic. I was playing college soccer. I’ve always played sports in my life and I was playing college soccer at the time and I found rugby and it pretty much completed everything. Now I had an outlet.
DRE:
How was going to the Academy Awards?
MZ:
It was cool, surreal, odd, strange, different. It’s not something that I would have thought that I would ever have gotten to do in my life. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of cool people and we got to experience a different side of what we usually see on TV.
DRE:
What did the movie do for the sport of wheelchair rugby?
MZ:
It changed not only the perception of the sport but the perception of people in chairs. It brought something that wasn’t necessarily in the mainstream into the mainstream. People look at people in chairs and they feel bad but now it’s like, “Hmmm, maybe they play sports.” It just piques their interest. It makes it not hidden. It answers questions people don’t want to ask. It breaks every stereotype and every misconception you have about somebody in a wheelchair.
DRE:
You’ve become a hero to a lot of disabled people, how are you dealing with that?
MZ:
It’s just been strange. I get emails left and right and people are like, “Thank you for living life.” “Thank you for doing this.” “Thank you for doing that.” I’m like, “Dude, I’m just trying to live life. If you take inspiration out of what I do, that’s cool.” That’s not something necessarily that I set out to do. I just want to live life. I want to get as strong as I possibly can and do as well as I possibly can in rugby and life.
DRE:
I interviewed [rival wheelchair rugby player] Joe Soares for the theatrical release of Murderball and he said the rivalry between you guys was pumped up for the movie.
MZ:
No, I don’t get along with him. I could give a shit if he got hit by a bus. There are people in life that you don’t get along with. He just happens to be one of them. Let me put it to you this way, I wouldn’t go sit down at a bar and have a beer with him. He’s not coming over for Thanksgiving dinner.
DRE:
Is there a maximum age that people can keep playing wheelchair rugby or do you just keep doing it until you don’t want to anymore?
MZ:
It is until you can’t perform. It’s not like I can say, “I’m going to play until I’m 50 and then I won’t be on the team.” I’ve got to try out every time. I was one of 12 people out of 500 to make this team. So if you don’t perform you get cut. That’s how it is.
DRE:
How did you end up in Jackass number two?
MZ:
I befriended [Jackass co-creator and director] Jeff Tremaine after we did an episode of Jackass. When they were making the movie they said, “You want to be involved?” I said, “Hell yeah, I want to be involved.” That was a hell of a lot of fun.
DRE:
I know you’re back at your job but would you do more stuff like that or do your own thing?
MZ:
I’d consider it. It’s not something that I’m going to sell my house and go move to LA and say “Hey I’m an actor.” But I’d like to pursue some of that stuff. It piques my interest.
DRE:
I read this movie you’re in Z: A Zombie Musical. I’m assuming that’s an independent movie.
MZ:
Yeah, I think it’s a B movie. Someone in Austin said, “Hey, you want to be part of it?” What I always do is I say, “Yeah.”
DRE:
Do you sing in it?
MZ:
No. You ain’t going to get me singing. There’s no way in hell. I don’t like to hear myself sing, let alone have anybody else hear me sing.
DRE:
You have quite a few tattoos, when did you start getting them?
MZ:
I have about 20 now. Before I got hurt I wanted one and then I got hurt in ’93 and I got my first when I was 19 years old and then the rest has been a process. I’m waiting until my artist gets some time and I’m going to go down and get a bit more done.
DRE:
Who’s your artist?
MZ:
I have a couple but the newest guy that I’ve been using is Ami James, the guy from Miami Ink. He’s a friend of mine and he did the last big tattoo I have. I’m just going to have him continue on.
DRE:
Do you eventually want to have full body?
MZ:
I don’t think so but I’m still young. Right now I have my leg to my knee and my arm to my elbow on opposite sides. I like the contrast.
DRE:
Are they designs or are they characters people would recognize?
MZ:
No, they’re all tribal in black. I like my tattoos dark and black.
DRE:
I heard about this movie that James Mangold might direct based on Murderball. Are you going to be involved with that?
MZ:
I don’t know. They’re still trying to get all the paperwork through and what have you. I don’t know the logistics of it. When it starts to come together I’m sure I’ll be involved to an extent just because it is my life.
DRE:
Who would you want to play you?
MZ:
Fuck, I don’t know. I have no idea. That’s probably one of the strangest questions you could ever ask. It’s like, “So, if they were going to do a movie on your life who do you want to play you?” I don’t know. But I’ve heard Matt Damon mentioned.
DRE:
That’d be great. He doesn’t look totally unlike you.
MZ:
Shave his head, give him some facial hair and there you go.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Mark Zupan is guy that you never want to battle in any court. Even though Zupan is a quadriplegic he still retains enough power of movement to make him the captain of the United States quadriplegic wheelchair rugby team. Zupan first came to fame as one of the stars of the Oscar nominated documentary Murderball and since then he’s become the spokesman for the sport. Now Zupan explains everything about his life in his new book, Gimp: When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold -or You Can Play.
Buy Gimp
Daniel Robert Epstein: Are you at work?
Mark Zupan: Yeah, I am a civil engineer.
DRE:
How’s that going?
MZ:
Good, this is the second day I’ve been here in maybe three and a half months.
DRE:
Because of the book tour and all that?
MZ:
Well, just everything. I’ve been busy with the book, with rugby and I do lectures as well.
DRE:
You’re a big star now.
MZ:
I don’t know about big star. I’m just recognized. It’s odd. It’s definitely different from everyday life. Two years ago I wouldn’t have told you that I’d be doing what I’m doing.
DRE:
So what made you sit down and decide to write this book?
MZ:
I got approached. Someone said, “Hey you want to write a book?” I was like, “Ok.” I didn’t really sit there and say, “Yeah this is something that I planned on doing.” Dana Shapiro, one of the directors of Murderball came up and said, “Hey, did you ever think of writing a book?” I said, “No but I guess I could.” He was like, “Here I’ll hook you up with a literary guy” and we went from there.
DRE:
What was the process of writing the book?
MZ:
I worked with Tim Swanson who is the West Coast Bureau Chief at Premiere Magazine and this is the first book he’s ever written. So it was a new experience for both of us.
DRE:
Were you actually sitting there typing or did you work with him?
MZ:
I worked together with him. How it initially started was that I wrote up my speech and put an outline together of my life and the stories and what have you. He interviewed a bunch of my friends to get more in-depth with it and then he’d write some, he’d send it over and I’d change some things and we’d go from there. It was a lot of talking on the phone.
DRE:
In the book you don’t talk a ton about rugby. Was that because you felt it was covered enough in the movie?
MZ:
We went into more of the process of getting hurt and going through what you have to go through. We touched on rugby to an extent. The book could have been double the size. We just found that it worked how we had it. We just touch on rugby because I have so many stories from rugby. You don’t want the book to sit there and go, “Mmmm, please hurry up, let’s finish this part and go on.” We wanted to keep it moving.
DRE:
Was it a difficult process to forgive your friend that caused you to be in a wheelchair?
MZ:
No, I forgave him the day he walked into the hospital. Shit happens. It’s not his fault I was in the back of the pickup truck. It’s not his fault that I broke my neck. It is his fault that he drove. But it’s all about choices you make. If we made these choices individually and didn’t string them together, then life would have been totally different. It’s just that’s how life is, you make one choice and another choice falls into it and then you go from there so it wasn’t very difficult. We’ve had hard times and we had difficult stuff to talk about but it is all part of life.
DRE:
Did you have this great attitude even before the accident?
MZ:
Yeah I’ve always pretty much been this way. If somebody means something to me and shit happens, I’m going to forgive you. It’s just a matter of time.
DRE:
I read that you said getting hurt was the best thing that ever happened to you.
MZ:
Yeah if you look at what I’ve been able to do and see, it’s amazing. I’ve met more people and experienced more things as a result. So it has been the best thing.
DRE:
Were you into sports before the accident?
MZ:
I’ve always been athletic. I was playing college soccer. I’ve always played sports in my life and I was playing college soccer at the time and I found rugby and it pretty much completed everything. Now I had an outlet.
DRE:
How was going to the Academy Awards?
MZ:
It was cool, surreal, odd, strange, different. It’s not something that I would have thought that I would ever have gotten to do in my life. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of cool people and we got to experience a different side of what we usually see on TV.
DRE:
What did the movie do for the sport of wheelchair rugby?
MZ:
It changed not only the perception of the sport but the perception of people in chairs. It brought something that wasn’t necessarily in the mainstream into the mainstream. People look at people in chairs and they feel bad but now it’s like, “Hmmm, maybe they play sports.” It just piques their interest. It makes it not hidden. It answers questions people don’t want to ask. It breaks every stereotype and every misconception you have about somebody in a wheelchair.
DRE:
You’ve become a hero to a lot of disabled people, how are you dealing with that?
MZ:
It’s just been strange. I get emails left and right and people are like, “Thank you for living life.” “Thank you for doing this.” “Thank you for doing that.” I’m like, “Dude, I’m just trying to live life. If you take inspiration out of what I do, that’s cool.” That’s not something necessarily that I set out to do. I just want to live life. I want to get as strong as I possibly can and do as well as I possibly can in rugby and life.
DRE:
I interviewed [rival wheelchair rugby player] Joe Soares for the theatrical release of Murderball and he said the rivalry between you guys was pumped up for the movie.
MZ:
No, I don’t get along with him. I could give a shit if he got hit by a bus. There are people in life that you don’t get along with. He just happens to be one of them. Let me put it to you this way, I wouldn’t go sit down at a bar and have a beer with him. He’s not coming over for Thanksgiving dinner.
DRE:
Is there a maximum age that people can keep playing wheelchair rugby or do you just keep doing it until you don’t want to anymore?
MZ:
It is until you can’t perform. It’s not like I can say, “I’m going to play until I’m 50 and then I won’t be on the team.” I’ve got to try out every time. I was one of 12 people out of 500 to make this team. So if you don’t perform you get cut. That’s how it is.
DRE:
How did you end up in Jackass number two?
MZ:
I befriended [Jackass co-creator and director] Jeff Tremaine after we did an episode of Jackass. When they were making the movie they said, “You want to be involved?” I said, “Hell yeah, I want to be involved.” That was a hell of a lot of fun.
DRE:
I know you’re back at your job but would you do more stuff like that or do your own thing?
MZ:
I’d consider it. It’s not something that I’m going to sell my house and go move to LA and say “Hey I’m an actor.” But I’d like to pursue some of that stuff. It piques my interest.
DRE:
I read this movie you’re in Z: A Zombie Musical. I’m assuming that’s an independent movie.
MZ:
Yeah, I think it’s a B movie. Someone in Austin said, “Hey, you want to be part of it?” What I always do is I say, “Yeah.”
DRE:
Do you sing in it?
MZ:
No. You ain’t going to get me singing. There’s no way in hell. I don’t like to hear myself sing, let alone have anybody else hear me sing.
DRE:
You have quite a few tattoos, when did you start getting them?
MZ:
I have about 20 now. Before I got hurt I wanted one and then I got hurt in ’93 and I got my first when I was 19 years old and then the rest has been a process. I’m waiting until my artist gets some time and I’m going to go down and get a bit more done.
DRE:
Who’s your artist?
MZ:
I have a couple but the newest guy that I’ve been using is Ami James, the guy from Miami Ink. He’s a friend of mine and he did the last big tattoo I have. I’m just going to have him continue on.
DRE:
Do you eventually want to have full body?
MZ:
I don’t think so but I’m still young. Right now I have my leg to my knee and my arm to my elbow on opposite sides. I like the contrast.
DRE:
Are they designs or are they characters people would recognize?
MZ:
No, they’re all tribal in black. I like my tattoos dark and black.
DRE:
I heard about this movie that James Mangold might direct based on Murderball. Are you going to be involved with that?
MZ:
I don’t know. They’re still trying to get all the paperwork through and what have you. I don’t know the logistics of it. When it starts to come together I’m sure I’ll be involved to an extent just because it is my life.
DRE:
Who would you want to play you?
MZ:
Fuck, I don’t know. I have no idea. That’s probably one of the strangest questions you could ever ask. It’s like, “So, if they were going to do a movie on your life who do you want to play you?” I don’t know. But I’ve heard Matt Damon mentioned.
DRE:
That’d be great. He doesn’t look totally unlike you.
MZ:
Shave his head, give him some facial hair and there you go.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
