Making a Remake: On the Set of the New 'Point Break'

It’s 1:30 a.m. on the outskirts of rainy Villach, Austria. Within the cold cement walls of a sprawling industrial private home (that looks more like an architectural Frankenstein’s monster than a family house), Austria and Germany’s most beautiful twentysomethings in wool coats and toboggan hats are shadow dancing to DJ Steve Aoki on the decks. Also in attendance? Eric Koston, Louie Vito, and a few more professional athletes. No, this isn’t some hip party we found ourselves in half way across the world. It’s simply one of the many sets for Warner Bros.’ upcoming action-thriller Point Break.

A remake of the 1991 Kathryn Bigelow cult classic that made Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze legends, the film keeps the essence of the original story. This time, however, Luke Bracey straps in as Johnny Utah, the young FBI agent who infiltrates a team of cunning athletes masterminding a string of eco-terrorists attacks led by wolf pack leader Bodhi, played by Edgar Ramirez. Teresa Palmer also stars as Samsara, who more than the co-leads’ love interest serves as the wolf pack’s guiding light.

Unlike the original, this film, directed by Ericson Core, whose previous credits include being the director of photography for The Fast and The Furious, surfs way more the breaks of sunny California. Shooting locations span the globe, with scenes taking place everywhere from Teahupoo, Tahiti to Venezuela’s Angel Falls.

In between filming the party scene—where Utah attempts to get closer with the wolf pack during a meeting with their financiers—Ramirez, Bracey, Palmer, along with producer Andrew Kosove, sat down with the roundtable of press to chat about staying true to the original, their connection to their characters, and what the movie says about today’s society.

When Warner Bros. announced the studio was moving forward with a Point Break remake in 2011, the Internet blew up with concerns. Was it necessary? How could you touch a cult classic? What would even differentiate this film from the original? Four years later, Ericson Core’s delivered a thrill ride that captures the spirit of the original, but explodes across the globe.

Andrew Kosove (Producer): “We do have some homages to the original film, which is fun because we wouldn’t be doing this movie if we weren’t fans of the original. We have a couple cameos that people will think is fun, and we’ve got a few other things that are iconic from the original movie. What really this movie shares with the original is the character dynamic between Bodhi and Utah. These two guys, while on opposite sides of the law, share a real bond and Utah is really pulled. We spend a little more time on finding out who Utah is and why this group of guys is so appealing to him, but the concept is really that character dynamic between Bodhi and Utah.”

Edgar Ramirez (Bodhi): “I am a huge fan of the [original], so I know it well. What Patrick Swayze did was beautiful and unique. There is no point to start off the premise to being like or being so different to what Keanu and Patrick did in the past. [In the remake] the relationship is there and the discovery and change is there, but we’re telling a different story here. The elements are similar—definitely the daredevil quality and the fact that there’s an FBI infiltration. But in this case we are ecological activists, and for some people it would be ecological terrorists. It’s a matter of perspective. Either you take direct action for some people, and for some other people it’s terrorism. [What this movie asks is] what does define you? Are you defined by your actions or your motivations?”

Teresa Palmer (Samsara): “I saw [the original] for the first time right before we started shooting the movie. It’s funny because my son has the same name, Bodhi, and when I said that I was going to name Bodhi, people were like, ‘Oh that’s from Point Break.’ I actually hadn’t seen it at that time. But I saw it for the first time the night before we started shooting because the whole cast and crew watched together.”

Filling in the shoes of such legendary and recognizable characters as Bodhi and Johnny Utah is a daunting task. That said, instead of recreating the originals, Palmer, Bracey, and Ramirez all brought new touches to their reimagined roles that, as they admit, will be a part of them for a lifetime.

Palmer: “One of the reasons why this film landed in my realm is because I am very much going through a similar path to [Samsara]. I definitely am a seeker and I read a lot on all sorts of different religions. Right now, I’m reading Buddhism for mothers. Ericson Core and I have very similar philosophies in life. To be in this industry and to be doing what I am doing, I feel like I have a great responsibility to use my profile to affect positive change in the world. That means choosing roles in which I could have a voice and have something that I truly can get beneath and feel passionate about. This is definitely a film that I feel very passionate about."

“And what I love so much about the script is that these boys band around Samsara and look to my character as an oracle type. She is deeply rooted in her spirituality and has been on this incredibly complex journey from when she was born. It is a very equal partnership [between the men and I]. There is no sexism and there is this beautiful dance between all of us. I have space to pull from both my feminine and masculine sides. It’s been something that I feel very proud to be a part of because we need to see more characters like this in film. Especially as a mother now, too, it is even more important to me.”

Luke Bracey (Johnny Utah): “[Utah] actually comes from this snowboarding/motocross background [in this film], but there is a surfing element to it. But for me growing up on the northern beaches of Sydney, my dad put me on a surfboard before I could stand up. I’ve always loved extreme sports. For me to be able to work with Eric Koston and all these guys, I am kind of like a child and trying not to freak out. [Laughs.] I know this world just as a fan of it and as someone who loves the sports involved.”

“[For Utah], he fell into the world of extreme sports. He kind of had this death wish for most of his life and by throwing himself into these really dangerous situations, there’s a part of his subconscious that hopes he didn’t make it out of a lot of those. Without knowing where he’s come from, he doesn’t know where he is going. And he is just a guy who wants to know who he is.”

Ramirez: “At this point [I connect to Bodhi]. You have to. As an actor, I don’t find another way to perform but opening and trying to become one with my [character]. That’s the risk and beauty and thrill of being an actor, too. That’s my adrenaline rush, which is to open up and freefall into the ideology and emotions of a character and become one with them for the time that you need to. Definitely you’re going to be changed. Once I become a surfer, I know that my life will be different...I’m learning stuff that I know will have an impact on my life.”

Forget the ‘Ex-Presidents’, as Bigelow dubbed them. Forget sticking to local bank robberies. 2015’s Point Break is interested in conquering the globe, with the Wolf Pack at the helm. More than just surfers who like to pop off, the Wolf Pack are a group of eco-terrorists who steal from corporations in the name of radical environmentalism. To pull it off, they just happen to excercise some of the most extreme athleticism ever captured on film.

Kosove: “The Wolf Pack...are extreme protectors of their environment and that’s what they’re driven by. All of their pursuits are about being one with nature, whether it’s by wingsuiting and being one with the wind, or snowboarding the perfect face. When they do the things they do against the companies that are polluting or destroying the environment, they’re doing it because they believe that at the end of the day, the ends justify the means, even if they kill a few people. That’s a little bit of a difference from the original film. Bodhi and the crew are still trying to enjoy the endless summer, [but] these guys have a very specific political agenda.”

Ramirez: “I see our group as a ring of monks. In a way, we’re very strict in [our] code of ethics. There’s a high sense of commitment to the cause. In comparison to the [original film], there was a more hedonistic search. It was more about the senses and the pleasure and the rush and the thrill. Here, the rush and the pleasure and the thrill are involved, but there’s an ulterior cause to what we do. There’s a high sense of retribution to what you get from the Earth, the world, and life.”

“More than being a closed circle, [the wolf pack] is a matrix. What is great about a matrix is that it expands; it’s open to receive new people, as opposed to a circle that is closed and somehow devours itself because there’s no way out. It definitely has certain conditions to be met, like any other organization. We share similar views on society, the way the world is as a whole, the relationship between what we do and the Earth, and what we’re taking from the Earth... The thing is that whatever we do as a group has to do with the geological forces of the planet. And if you take something, if you get something, if you connect and become one with one geological force, then there’s a commitment, there’s a responsibility to give back. That’s pretty much the theology of this group.”

Palmer: “[Bodhi’s] going on the Osaki 8, which is eight physically, mentally, and spiritually challenging quests. They say by the eighth one you’ve reached enlightenment. He is going about this path because he also wants to be on the same level as Samsara, who is his great soul and spiritual love. And she is very much a part of [the quest] too. She goes on these heists. I want to say that she is a bit of a mastermind and [the wolf pack] look to her for answers and direction.”

While the original film was simply interested in surfing the ‘50-year storm’ and robbing banks just for the thrill of it, the remake is here not just to tease your senses, but also provoke thought. What does it mean to live off the grid in today’s society? What’s the difference between an eco-terrorist and environmental activist? Most importantly, how do you define your life? To immerse themselves in the film, the cast and crew internalized these questions themselves.

Kosove: “The reason why [the original movie] struck a chord in 1991 was because coming off of 12 years of Republican administrations and Ronald Reagan and Wall Street Go-Go 80s and so forth, it represented a sort of counter culture, a statement against the man or government...Twenty-five years later, we’ve experienced a level of wealth consolidation, globalization, and corporate power across lines and countries that were inconceivable in 1991. So thematically that idea of, ‘We’re going to be off the grid and live our own way,’ is even more resonant now than it was 25 years ago.”

Ramirez: “We’re trying to be as authentic as possible, as faithful to what we might call truth as possible. At the end, [the film] is a very structured work of empathy. I mean in reality, I can’t wingsuit. Very few people can in real life. But you can empathize. We know that our time on this Earth is limited, that we’re all going to die. But the key difference is how are you going to die? How do you get from A to B and what do you do in between? That’s pretty much the mentality, the ideology when you talk to these athletes [who are working on the movie]. They don’t want to die. They do care about life. They care so much that they try to make the best out of it while you’re here.”

Palmer: “I love the idea of living off the grid for a month, a year. In fact after we shot at this [secluded cottage without electricity in Cortina, Italy], I said to my husband (read: actor Mark Webber) that it would be wonderful for our children. I want our boys to understand just how fragile life can be and how simple life can be without having so much stuff. It’s important, but realistically we have to live in houses and be a part of society and pay taxes and have money. If you can somehow find that same feeling that you get from living off the grid but apply it to the business of life, that’s where the answer lies. Edgar and I had a conversation about this and doing meditation at length. Doing meditation is a really good way of moving through the peaks and valleys of life and all the stuff that comes at you for simply being a human being in this society.”

Just one look at the trailer and you’ll realize this movie isn’t playing around. Screw a green screen, to depict the Wolf Pack as capable of everything from hopping cliffs on a motorbike to surfing tsunamis to wingsuiting across the sky, producers hired pro extreme athletes to serve as the daring stunt team, and used top technology to capture them in action.

Bracey: “Having world-class athletes [work on the film] justifies and gives great credibility to this movie. The people that are performing these stunts are the world’s best in them: Xavier De La Rue for snowboarding, Laird Hamilton [for surfing], Chris Sharma [for climbing], Jeb Corliss [for wingsuiting].

“These sports aren’t just sports. They’re very dangerous things to do. Right now, the second unit is wingsuiting in Switzerland and it actually is quite frightening to know that they are jumping and putting their lives on the line for this movie everyday. It has been a privilege that we get to work with these people and get an inside knowledge into their ideas of life and danger and death and their relationship with it. Because that is something that Utah struggles with and has to come around to.”

Kosove: “I used a camera called an Opticom. It is a RED camera on a remote control helicopter with, like, 12 propellers. And we’ve got camera guys following these wingsuits. You’re on them, you are with them. For an audience that sees this in IMAX and 3D, this is going to be a really genuinely unique film experience."

“Our objective has been to represent [extreme] sports in the most authentic way possible. In order to do that, these are stunts really being done. It is not a green screen movie. It is wingsuiting, skateboarding, motocross, and extreme tow-in surfing.”

Ramirez: “Both inside the story and as a production, we have taken this to a total different level...Right now everything tends to be generated by computer, or movies about superheroes. This one here, what is really amazing is that when someone watches the movie and says, ‘Oh no, that’s impossible, nobody did that.’ The reality is that yes, somebody did it.”