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Nicolas Cage Says Sharks and Rip Tides Got in the Way of Surf Lessons for The Surfer: ‘I Could’ve Died’
May
Nicolas Cage has done some truly wild stunts throughout his illustrious career, but learning how to surf for his new film, The Surfer, proved more challenging than even stealing the Declaration of Independence.
In The Surfer (now in theaters), Cage portrays an unnamed businessman who returns to his Australian hometown with the dream of buying back the beach house he grew up in. Without giving too much away, despite the film’s title and his character’s obsession with surfing, Cage doesn’t actually do much of it on screen.
While that decision was mostly driven by the script — which sees his character descend into near-madness due to a group of local bullies who prevent him from surfing — there is a moment near the end where it seems like we might finally get to see the National Treasure star carving up the waves.
“I talked at length with Lorcan [Finnegan, the film’s director] about it,” Cage tells Entertainment Weekly. “He knows I wish I could have gotten to that point.” Although the actor loves how the movie ends and wouldn’t change a frame, he confesses that he dreamed of recreating a famous surf scene from the 1979 film Big Wednesday.
“I remember in my mind’s eye, Jan-Michael Vincent on the board, the board wiping across the frame… it was so beautiful in the water with the wiping of the board, and then landing on its face in slow motion,” Cage says. “I thought, ‘I really want to get that shot,’ but I didn’t have the time to develop my skills to the point where we could do it.”
That wasn’t for lack of trying, though. Paparazzi photos of his training sessions mostly captured his wipeouts, to Cage’s amusement. “They didn’t get the one shot of me standing on the board,” he jokes.
The actor faced more than just limited time to learn how to surf. “We had things like weather conditions and, believe it or not, shark reports and stuff,” Cage says, adding that the ocean’s unpredictability didn’t help either.
Despite his efforts, Cage admits that he hasn’t had much luck on a surfboard in the past.
“I have surfed, but every time I’ve attempted surfing, I’ve been pounded to smithereens,” he says with a laugh. “I surfed down on Sunset Beach. When I was trying to learn, my teacher gave me a shortboard. I said, ‘Look, I want a longboard.'”
Even with a bigger board, the ocean proved relentless. “I just got pounded and literally got stuck in the rip tide,” Cage recalls. “They said they saw my board, and they call it ‘tombstone’ — the triangle top sticking straight up out of the water.”
Cage continues, pantomiming the tip of his board. “I’m climbing up the leash as I’m somersaulting, and I could’ve died. Now that I have a young kid, I don’t know if I want to do it anymore.”
But just like his character, Cage isn’t ready to give up on the dream of surfing.
“The goal,” he says, “is to retire, surf, drink red wine, and eat spaghetti.”
