Nicolas Cage Looks Set to Play an Aussie Expat Returning Home for a Beach Battle in 'The Surfer'
A new Aussie-set surfing thriller starring the one and only Nicolas Cage? Sold.
Some of the most wonderful sentences ever written include two glorious words: Nicolas Cage. Usually when the actor's name comes up, it's because he has a new film in the works — or sometimes a TV show — that makes another weird, wild and wonderful addition to an on-screen resume like no other. Already in 2023, he's added his first-ever western to the list. And, he's playing Dracula in Renfield, which might be the only time ever the iconic star has ever sucked. We could keep naming past highlights, such as stepping into his own shoes in 2022's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and crooning Elvis songs for David Lynch's Wild at Heart, or we could jump straight into the next instant must-see project that might feature the one and only Cage: The Surfer.
Just announced at this year's Cannes Film Festival, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, this sadly isn't the only Point Break remake that needs to be made. Like that flick, however — the Keanu Reeves-starring 90s original, not the terrible 2015 do-over — The Surfer has an Aussie connection. Cage looks set to play an Australian expat returning home from America and getting in a beach battle with a local gang of wave riders. An Aussie-set surfing thriller starring Cage? Sold.
Cage's titular character makes the trip Down Under after years in the US, only to get humiliated by other surfers in front of his teenage son. Cue a turf war, plus Cage's protagonist refusing to leave the beach. Cue the stakes escalating and the movie's namesake having his sanity tested, too.
The film is set to shoot in Australia from September 2023, with director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) helming, working with a script by screenwriter Thomas Martin. There's no word yet who might co-star with Cage, but you'd expect every Australian actor ever to be lining up to be involved.
Fresh from directing The Dry, Blueback and the upcoming Force of Nature: The Dry 2, Robert Connolly is one of The Surfer's producers, boosting its Aussie ties.
Given that Cage's character will have been in America for years, that might help the movie get around needing him to bust out an Aussie accent — but who doesn't want to see the man who has proven a comedic genius for the Coen brothers, dabbled with Marvel in two different ways despite never appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, wordlessly fought demonic animatronics, swapped faces with John Travolta, gotten speedy before the Fast and Furious saga existed, taken to the skies with criminals and acted opposite himself in Adaptation give it a try anyway?
There's no release date for The Surfer yet, either, or trailer obviously, but checking out Cage's exceptional work in Mandy is always recommended while you're waiting for his next films:
The Surfer doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when more details are announced.
Via The Hollywood Reporter. Top image: Gerald Geronimo via Wikimedia Commons.
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