Like so many other things in the 21st century, the new “Point Break” has gone global.
The original, 1991 version — starring Keanu Reeves as rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze as charismatic surfer and gang leader Bodhi — was centered largely in Southern California. In the remake, set for a Christmas Day release, Utah (Luke Bracey) and Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez) are back, but this time they’re not only big-wave riding and skydiving, but also snowboarding nearly vertical rock faces, free-climbing without ropes, zipping down mountain gorges in aerodynamic wingsuits and racing motorcycles at insanely high speeds in locations around the world.
Of course, one of those locations is Hawaii: While Oahu’s famous North Shore made a guest appearance in the original, it was Jaws, off Peahi, Maui, that caught director Ericson Core’s attention after he heard that an epic swell was on its way there in 2014.
The cast and crew ended up shooting in 11 countries on four continents, said Core, 49, by phone from Venice Beach, Calif.
“It was really rather beautiful. … We went to the real countries and worked with international crews wherever we were,” he said.
Core served in dual roles as director and director of photography, working with extreme athletes such as surfers Makua Rothman, Sebastian Zietz, Billy Kemper and Ian Walsh; snowboarders Xavier De Le Rue, Louie Vito, Christian Haller and Lucas DeBari; wingsuit stunt pilots Jon Devore, Julian Boulle, Jhonathan Florez and Mike Swanson; and free-climber Chris Sharma.
He talked more about the surfing action and other stunts in “Point Break”:
Question: So is this a remake? A reboot?
Answer: The reason I don’t really feel it’s a remake is that we wanted to take the characters of Utah and Bodhi and the issues they face and put it on a world stage 25 years later. It’s not exactly the same story as the original.
Q: How did you direct such mind-boggling action scenes? How much planning went into them?
A: Each situation was different. When we did the wave sequences, we had really huge crews. We had to be out there to capture it and couldn’t miss anything, so we had nine cameras. When we did things like the snowboarding, there were times when the crew was four people.
The wingsuit sequence, which seems really unreal, is absolutely 100 percent real. The risks that were taken are pretty incredible. When you’re standing there on a cliff and these guys blow by, it sounds just like a jet. These guys are physically making the same sound. So when four of them do it, it sounds like the Blue Angels are flying right overhead. It’s ridiculous.
Q: How important was it to have pro athletes involved?
A: I have some minimal understanding of the world of extreme sports, and when we were talking about making this film the Hollywood way with stuntmen and special effects, it didn’t feel right to me.
I wanted to present something that was true to the way these guys perform, so I reached out to some of the top extreme athletes in the world and they were intrigued because they were all influenced by the original. My promise was that we were going to do it all in-camera, so we went to all those places with the athletes. I told them the parameters of each scene, and they told me where the holy grail was. It’s why we wound up at Jaws.
A lot of the conversations we had became dialogue in the film. How they felt about the outdoors ended up becoming a big part of the story.
Q: Were you part of the crew that filmed on Maui?
A: Yes, that’s the whole sequence at the end of the film. It was shot six months before we were even in production. The studio gave us the ability to come to Hawaii because they knew it was necessary for the shots we were looking for. Thanks to guys like Brian Keaulana and Laird Hamilton, we went out there and were able to capture it.
It was kind of great because a lot of people who were haters of “Point Break” and us trying to touch it in any way, when they started to see the footage that came out from Jaws, a lot of them backed off. It was very important to me that we got it right, starting in Hawaii.
