If Nicolas Cage flying into Perth with his family to start filming psychological thriller The Surfer wasn’t on your bingo card for today, never fear.
We have you covered with everything you need to know about the film and why it has the Hollywood star hitting our beaches.
Written by Thomas Martin and directed by Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium, Nocebo), The Surfer follows Cage’s character as he returns to his beachside hometown in Australia after several years away, where he has been busy building a life for himself in the US.
After being humiliated by a local gang of surfers — in front of his teenage son — who claim ownership over his secluded and nostalgic childhood beach, Cage’s character declares war against them, the conflict escalating to become wildly out of control.
The 59-year-old Ghost Rider star has cast local school children from Margaret River Senior High School in the psychological thriller.
Casting locally for the gang, a casting call earlier this year saw droves of kids in the South West flock in a bid to star alongside the Hollywood legend.
The call out said: “We are looking for kids who are really confident with a bit of ‘attitude’ … we see them riding their BMXs delivering beer and generally causing trouble around town.”
Professional Film Crew of Western Australia are working on the movie and were excited about their man’s arrival. They posted on Facebook “Surf’s up!” along with a picture of Cage at Perth domestic
According to The Hollywood Reporter back in May, Mossbank, the partnership between Sculptor Media and Raven and headed by Michael Rothstein and Sam Hall, was handling international sales and introducing The Surfer to buyers at the Cannes Market.
The long list of the producers on the film include Robert Connolly of Australian banner Arenamedia (The Dry, Emily, Sweet As), and Leonora Darby, James Harris and Mark Lane of Tea Shop Productions (Fall, He Went That Way, Bull, A Banquet and upcoming The Wasp, The Cut and Tornado).
Nathan Klingher (Blood for Dust, Land of Bad) is also said to be producing, alongside executive producers Apur Parikh, Josh Harris, Ford Corbett and Mark Fasano of Gramercy Park Media.
“We’re incredibly excited to be working with Lorcan, Thomas, Arenamedia and Tea Shop on such a visceral and unique thriller,” Mossbank’s Sam Hall told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
“Nicolas Cage is the perfect actor for this iconic role and will undoubtedly deliver a tour de force performance which is sure to be something very special and will captivate audiences worldwide.”
It was announced principal photography on The Surfer was due to commence in September 2023 in Australia, so it does not sound like Cage will have much time to sit around before heading straight to the State’s South West set, rumoured to be in Margaret River and Yallingup.
It’s understood, Cage’s filming slot in Margaret River was very last minute.
Having films grossing more than an eye-watering $6.3 billion globally during his career, Cage is a superstar taking our glorious surf to the world’s stage, while it sounds like his character may just lose a little bit of his sanity in the process.