Overview
"I want my surfboard." If Nicolas Cage said this to you, you'd take notice. But in The Surfer, that request doesn't go as planned for the character that he's playing, with a group of local surfers just laughing and telling him that it isn't his board.
That's how the first look at this Australian-made psychological thriller pans out — which isn't a trailer, but instead gives viewers a scene from the movie. It was back in 2023 that word arrived that the inimitable actor was hopping from playing himself in 2022's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and then Dracula in 2023's Renfield to becoming an Australian surfer in a film called, fittingly, The Surfer. And now, here's your first glimpse at footage.
Radek Ladczuk
There's no release date for Cage's Aussie stint as yet, nor an actual trailer, but the initial clip follows a first-look image of the actor from late in 2023. Stan, which is behind the movie, will stream it in Australia; however, it will also play in cinemas Down Under first. Before that, it's premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Slotting into Cage's resume alongside everything from crooning Elvis songs in David Lynch's Wild at Heart to having everyone see him when they slumber in Dream Scenario, The Surfer isn't the only Point Break remake that needs to be made (forget the terrible 2015 do-over). Rather, it sees Cage star as an Australian expat returning home from America, then getting in a beach battle with that local gang of wave riders.
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 shot in Yallingup in Western Australia, just in the single location, with director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) helming and working with a script by screenwriter Thomas Martin.
Featuring alongside Cage: an Aussie cast that spans Julian McMahon (FBI: Most Wanted), Nicholas Cassim (The Messenger), Miranda Tapsell (The Artful Dodger), Alexander Bertrand (Australian Gangster), Justin Rosniak (Mr Inbetween), Rahel Romahn (Here Out West), Finn Little (Yellowstone) and Charlotte Maggi (Summer Love).
Check out the first clip from The Surfer below:
The Surfer doesn't yet have an in-cinema or streaming release date — we'll update you when one is announced.
Top image: Radek Ladczuk.