Overview
In the 90s classic that is Point Break, some Southern California surfers don't take too kindly to Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves, Sonic the Hedgehog 3) hitting the waves on their turf. In 70s Australian masterpiece Wake in Fright, a new arrival in the outback — the fictional Bundanyabba, with the film shooting Broken Hill — isn't greeted warmly, either. Combine the two and The Surfer might be the end result, at least based on the Nicolas Cage-starring Aussie movie's just-released full trailer.
If Cage said "I want my surfboard" to you, you'd take notice. But in The Surfer, that request doesn't go as planned for his character. Instead, a group of local surfers just laugh and tell him that it isn't his board — as audiences also caught a glimpse of back in 2024 when the Australian-made psychological thriller initially dropped its first clip.
Radek Ladczuk
It was before that, 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. Then came first-look image of the actor from late in 2023, that aforementioned initial clip and a debut at Cannes 2024. Next stop: playing US cinemas from May 2025.
There's no release date for Cage's Aussie stint in Australia as yet, however. Stan, which is behind the movie, will stream it locally — and named it on the platform's 2025 slate — but there's no new word on the initial plan to screen the film in cinemas Down Under first as well.
Radek Ladczuk
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 and getting murderous in Longlegs, The Surfer sees him star as an Australian expat returning home from America, then getting in a beach battle with that local gang of wave riders. The actor'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 trailer for The Surfer below:
The Surfer releases in the US on Friday, May 2, 2025, but doesn't yet have an in-cinema or streaming release date Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced.