It may sound like the beginning of a twisted joke, but there's really nothing funny about it. The Quentin Tarantino produced throwback to the grindhouse biker flicks of the ‘60s and ‘70s, “Hell Ride,” premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Larry Bishop (“The Savage Seven,” “Angel Unchained,” and “Chrome and Hot Leather”) wrote, directed and starred in the film and Dennis Hopper also stars alongside. The movie was a long time in the making. Bishop met Tarantino six and half years ago and discovered how big a fan the legendary director was of his work. After inviting Bishop to watch “The Savage Seven” in his impressive home theater, Tarantino told him, “Let’s make the greatest motorcycle movie ever…Larry, it’s your destiny to write, direct and star in a motorcycle movie.” It took nearly a year for Bishop to write the screenplay. However, Tarantino was focused on making his hit movie “Kill Bill,” so Bishop decided to wait to spring his script on him. Then, he had to wait out the Weinstein split from Disney. Bishop took the time to improve his script and cast. Obviously, Hopper was a “no-brainer,” but he took great care to cast every role. He wanted a true American melting pot, so he was sure to cast accordingly. “This is an American story, but I wanted a melting pot of different type of people, and I used the girls to bring that point across,” Bishop explained. However, since male camaraderie is the focus of the film, great care was taken to cast the male roles. Michael Madsen and Eric Balfour were shoe-ins. Madsen and Bishop met on “Kill Bill,” and Balfour secured the role “the minute (he) walked in,” said the director. Bishop said Tarantino, a wealth of help and knowledge, felt secure enough to give him free reign. And Bob Weinstein refused to interfere “one iota” as long as the movie stayed on budget. While the movie secured an R rating for the theatrical version, more footage will be available on the unrated DVD version. A general release for “Hell Ride” has not yet been set.