If you thought it would never actually happen when it was announced Luke Bracey was going to fill the shoes once occupied by Keanu Reeves in a remake of Kathryn Bigelow‘s Point Break well, guess again.
Not only is the movie moving forward with Ericson Core, longtime cinematographer on films such as Daredevil and The Fast and the Furious, directing and Gerard Butler co-starring, now Ray Winstone has joined the cast (via Variety) and will play elder to Bracey’s Johnny Utah.
Written by Kurt Wimmer (Salt, Total Recall), the film will follow a similar plot line as the first with Bracey as Johnny Utah, an FBI agent assigned to infiltrate a gang of thieves who share a common interest in extreme sports. Butler plays Bodhi, the leader of the gang and role originally played by Patrick Swayze, and Winstone will play Pappas, the role played by Gary Busey in the 1991 original.
One of the film’s producers, Broderick Johnson, recently commented on story, however, saying only the broad strokes are the same as the original telling Collider, “The script only shares in common with the original the characters and the nature of the character dynamic between Utah and Bodhi and their relationship… Everything else about the movie is different. The narrative of the movie is different.”
It sounds to me like this is largely because the film doesn’t focus on a gang of surfers, but merely extreme sports enthusiasts, which simply opens up other avenues for craziness. This includes free-climbing, motocross, wing-suiting and, yes, surfing and it sounds like it’s going to be an action extravaganza with real stunts and little green screen. “This is a movie with a lot of stunts and no stunt people in it,” Johnson said.. “he stunts are way too dangerous for people who are stunt people.” So look for real athletes in those stunt roles.
Production gets underway in June and the film will be released in 2015 in 3D and IMAX. Who knows, could be fun.
