How the film "On the Crest of a Wave" was filmed: footage from the filming and 20 interesting facts about the film (22 photos)

The film "Point Break" (1991) is a cheerful action movie about an FBI agent who infiltrates a gang of bank-robbing surfers. As a child, I simply adored this film. Filming on water and in the air was simply mesmerizing.





1. The idea of the film "Point Break" belongs to the American screenwriter, director and screenwriter Rick King. While learning to surf, Rick read in the newspaper that Los Angeles was the robbery capital. That's how he came up with the idea to create a film about a gang of surfers who rob banks. And it is into this gang that an undercover FBI agent must infiltrate.

To write the script, he brought in a young screenwriter, Peter Ayliffe, who had previously only been known for writing the script for the little-known film The Roller Prayer.



Peter Iliffe

Peter agreed to write the script for only $6,000, as he was in dire need of money. Moreover, at that time he worked as a waiter, so he had to write the script for the film at night.

2. As for the director, in 1987 the famous director Ridley Scott was invited to this place. And he even agreed to sit in the director’s chair. But after several months of preparation, Scott changed his mind and went on to direct another film, Black Rain. As a result, the script lay on the shelf for several years, since none of the directors wanted to take on it.





But suddenly the producers decided to turn to a young female director, Kathryn Bigelow, for help. Most likely, the fact that Katherine was married to James Cameron himself played an important role in this.



At that moment, Katherine had just finished working on her new film and was just looking for a new project. Therefore, without much hesitation, she agreed to become the director of the film. Moreover, Katherine herself admitted that she would really like to make a film about adrenaline “junkies.”

3. Initially, the film was supposed to be called "Johnny Utah" in honor of the main character, but James Cameron, who helped his wife (he was also an executive producer), rejected this name.



Then it was proposed to name the painting “Riders of the Storm” in honor of the song of the group “The Doors” called “Riders of the storm”. And everyone liked this name.

But already during the filming of the film, someone suggested changing the name to "Point Break". As a result, it was decided to leave this option. Well, in our country the film became known as “On the Crest of a Wave.” To me, localization sounds more beautiful.



But many will ask: “What does this have to do with a breaking point in a film about surfers?” In fact, "Point break" is a surfing term that refers to ideal conditions for riding a wave.

And by the way, almost immediately after the film was released, James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow divorced.



James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow

Well, I can’t resist telling you about another interesting fact about this couple. In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker won the Oscar for Best Picture, snatching the win from her ex-husband, who was also nominated for Avatar.



4. Kathryn Bigelow showed every shot of Point Break to her husband for his feedback. At the same time, Cameron let his wife watch footage of the film Terminator 2, which he was directing at the time.

5. Despite the fact that Rick King and Billie Isleaf are listed as screenwriters, James Cameron made a huge number of edits to their script, which is why it was very different from the original script.

6. The studio wanted to see some famous actor as Johnny Utah. They considered famous actors such as Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Matthew Broderick, Johnny Depp and (surprise) Patrick Swayze.



But myselfand Kathryn Bigelow insisted that Keanu Reeves play the role. In her opinion, he would be perfect for the role of a young FBI agent. But they only laughed at her, because everyone knew Keanu Reeves mainly from the comedy film “Bill and Ted's Adventures,” so no one saw the action star in it.

But Katherine insisted. Moreover, she even threatened the studio bosses that she would resign as director if they did not meet her. As a result, the bosses gave up and allowed her to take Reeves for this role.



7. Kathryn Bigelow, realizing that this choice fell under her responsibility, firmly took on Keanu Reeves. She began to teach him to walk correctly, forcing him to constantly train. In general, she literally became his shadow in order to mold Keanu into an action star.

8. Despite the fact that Patrick Swayze initially wanted to play Johnny Utah, after reading the entire script, he decided that he should play the leader Botha. Swayze himself admitted that Bothi was even somewhat close to him in character.



9. To immerse himself in the role of an FBI agent, Keanu Reeves studied with seasoned FBI agent William Rader. True, as Rader himself would later write in his book, he gave Keanu Reeves a whole bunch of advice on how to portray agents, but the actor never applied any of them to the movies. And then Rader added that Point Break was disgusting.

10. Since the film touched on the theme of surfing, the main actor had to learn how to ride a board on the waves from professional surfer Denis Jarvis for several months.



As Keanu Reeves admitted, the stunts on the waves were performed by stuntmen, and when Johnny fell from the board, it was himself, after which he was repeatedly hit in the head with the board.

11. But Patrick Swayze was a fan of doing as many of his own stunts as possible. True, his love for stuntmanry came back to haunt him, because while performing stunts he broke 4 ribs and also severely damaged his knee, so much so that he had to drain fluid from there every day.



In addition, he was a fan of parachuting. He has over 50 jumps behind him outside of filming. On the set of the film itself, he was forbidden to jump with a parachute, because they did not want the inexperienced actor to kill himself. But nevertheless, Patrick was able to persuade the bosses to make one independent jump for the film.



In general, many actors want to show off their stunt talents, and sometimes get seriously injured. Viggo Mortensen also suffered several injuries on the set of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers just because he wanted to do his own stunts.



12. All the scenes of the surfers swimming at night were actually filmed during the daytime.



13. The footage of the parachutists was filmed from a helicopter flying next to the plane. Due to such close proximity, an accident occurred right in the air. The damaged plane managed to land without incident, but the helicopter crew had a hard time. But the most important thing is that despite the damage and bruises, no one died.



14. Keanu Reeves's same jump without a parachute aroused the interest of MythBusters. They conducted their experiment, during which it turned out that falling on a person in the air from above is quite possible, but talking to him in this position is simply impossible, since there will be nothing in the ears except the hum from the air. And of course, the flight itself would have lasted much less.

15. The actors supposedly skydiving and flying through the air were actually filmed three meters above the ground. A special crane was built for this purpose.



The actors had to climb onto this platform, after which they were fastened with special belts. Well, powerful fans located below were used to create air flow.



16. While the film "On the Crest" was being filmedwaves”, the tour of the film “Ghost” was just taking place, where Patrick Swayze played the main role. He was often not on the set, so it was necessary to film those scenes where his character was not present.

17. The final scene of the film was filmed only six months after the end of filming. The fact is that James Cameron was not satisfied with the original ending, so he decided that it needed to be remade. Well, as you can see, during this time the actors also changed a little in appearance.



18. With a budget of $24 million, the film grossed $83.5 million. And this does not include fees from sales of video media.

Seeing the success of the film, James Cameron decided to make a sequel, but the studio bosses refused to allow him to do so. Later he tried to do it again, but at that time Patrick Swayze was already suffering from cancer, and in 2009 he passed away. Then Cameron completely gave up on the idea of a continuation.



However, in 2015, a remake of the film of the same name was released. True, the film failed at the box office. With a budget of $105 million, it grossed only $133 million.