Keanu Reeves is known for action movies like John Wick, but many people don’t know that in these films, he does his own stunts. If he has a fight scene, he’ll train in various martial arts. If he has to ride a horse, he’ll get horseback training. In the film, Point Break, Keanu is surfing, so fans wonder if he also learned how to surf.
Keanu can surf as he learned how to for two months before his role in Point Break. Keanu Reeves was not just acting in the 1991 film, he and his crew members all learned how to surf to make the movie more realistic.
Continue reading to find out more about Point Break and why the director made everyone learn how to surf.
Point Break
Point Break is an action-crime film that was released in 1991. The film was so popular, that it has since been remade under the same name in 2015.
The original film starred Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty, and Gary Busey. Reeves’ character is an undercover FBI agent who is investigating a group of bank robbers.
It was originally titled Johnny Utah (based on Keanu’s character name), then renamed to Riders of the Storm, but finally changed to Point Break to be more relevant to surfing.
Keanu Reeves’ Surf Training
Since the movie featured a lot of surfing, anyone in the main cast that couldn’t surf, had to learn. This included Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty, and Patrick Swayze.
The three of them moved to the island Kauai in Hawaii for two months before filming. There, the professional surfer Dennis Jarvis taught them all to surf.
The three all had a hard time filming the surfing scenes as they had never surfed before. Lori Petty had never even been in the ocean previously.
While filming the surf scenes, Patrick Swayze even cracked four of his ribs. He still refused to use a stunt double for most of his stunts as he always did his own stunts.
Keanu seemed to be the only one that enjoyed it as he ended up taking up surfing as a hobby. Keanu has also said that Point Break changed his life.
He has said that Point Break has made an impact on so many people, himself included. Fans will come up to him and tell him that they started skydiving or surfing after the movie, much like himself.
Patrick Swayze’s character skydives in the film. Patrick seemed to enjoy that aspect of filming more as he made 55 jumps for the film, even getting a cease and desist order because he was making too many jumps.
The director, Kathryn Bigelow, had everyone learn how to skydive and surf because she wanted it to seem realistic.
She used a filming technique where the cameraman would have to run alongside the actors to make it seem like the audience was running with them.
She wanted the audience to be able to feel like they were there. Similarly, with surfing, she had to use a snorkel lens so cameras could get up close to the actors while they were surfing.
Having the actors surf and jump out of the planes themselves allowed the filming to be more consistent as they did not have to cut and edit out stunt double’s faces.
There were even real surfers in the film to further make it seem realistic. Kathryn Bigelow placed emphasis on getting real surfers who could act rather than real actors who could surf.
So, Bojesse Christopher and John Philbin who played gang members were pro surfers who acted on the side.
Keanu Reeves has said that he has kept up with surfing since he enjoyed it so much in the film. He is likely not doing the same stunts in his personal life, but Keanu Reeves can still actually surf.