Point Break Screening
Earlier today we were among some of the first people in the world to glimpse footage of the forthcoming Point Break remake (find out what we thought here). Also in attendance were director Ericson Core, actor Edgar Ramirez (who plays Bodhi), and extreme sports athletes Xavier De La Rue and Chris Sharma.
The question on everybody’s lips since the project was announced has always simply been why? Point Break was such a product of its time and has such a cult following that many don’t see a need for another one. Director Ericson Core has a different opinion though and promised a film that ‘was not a remake’ but rather a ‘re-imaging and bringing up to date’. He spoke of how the world is different now, it’s much broader. The first was grounded primarily to Venice Beach, but this has much greater scope. So much in fact that filming took place in 11 countries across 4 continents. What the new film will take from the 1991 favourite is the theme of spirit, though Core did also promise a few sneaky homages, so keep your fingers crossed for that iconic gun firing and those meatball subs.
Point Break Screening
When asked what it was like being asked to play a role that the late Patrick Swayze made so iconic Ramirez admitted that he was a big fan of the original and can quote most it. He shared that although the story is told from Johnny Utah’s perspective, he was always more inspired by the character of Bodhi. He embraced Ericson’s desire to explore the spirituality of the piece and stated that this Bodhi’s ‘spiritual battle also has a political expression’. During filming he himself used meditation to get him through some intense rock climbing scenes.
Spirituality aside, this is a film that will be made or broken by its action sequences. You can’t have a film about extreme sport’s athletes and have shoddy stunt-work. With this at the forefront of his mind Ericson sought out real-life extreme sport’s athletes, at the top of their game, to lend a hand. De La Rue and Sharma made it very clear that in the past they have not been happy with the portrayal of their professions (De La Rue is a snowboarder and Sharma is a rock climber) but with Point Break they experienced something very authentic. Ericson admitted that it was very important to get their seal of approval allowed himself, to listen and be led by his team. The result is that, rather than have stunt workers, they just used the real life athletes.
Point Break Screening
Authenticity was a word used several times during the presentation and from the stories we heard they really did go above and beyond for it. De La Rue teased a very intense snowboarding sequence that was so fast and frenetic that he had to shoot the scene himself. Sharma and Ramirez also spoke of a rock climbing sequence that involved Ramirez being clipped to the top of a 3200 foot high cliff. He shared that being in that environment really helped him get into the mindset of his character. This is not a film that relies on CG, in fact the only thing within the film that is computer animated is a rock slide. All of the authenticity gave director Ericson Core the impression that the film is ‘as much a documentary as a feature film, the risk and peril will set it apart.’
Point Break Screening
As well as dealing with spirituality, this version of Point Break is all about Mother Nature and the Earth. This of course caused some issue with the logistics of filming – you can’t just make waves appear – but it appears that Mother Nature was happy to lend a hand. During one surfing sequence the crew found themselves face to face with the biggest waves the point had had in a decade, it’s not quite the Fifty Years storm, but it’s pretty darn close.
Other filming required the crew to swim in shark infested waters and work on ice fields with the threat of avalanches around every corner. In order to keep everybody safe the size of the crew was forever changing and sometimes meant there was as few as four people, the maximum amount of people a helicopter could lift, just in case a swift exit was needed. Despite all of this no one was seriously injured during production, the only injury of note being a broken jaw that was sustained during a surfing set.
We ended with Edgar Ramirez professing that his time on Point Break was more than a movie and described it as a ‘life-changing experience’ and the promise that ‘people’s minds are going to be blown’.
The Point Break remake releases in select US cinemas on Christmas Day before heading to the UK on 12th February.
