Surfer magazine
Mark Foo made the cover of Surfer magazine.

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Gathering wave

Surfers and surfing are riding a
surge of interest among movie
and television producers

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

Hollywood has discovered surfing and not just as a backdrop in a beach blanket bingo flick.

Though producer Zalman King's motion picture "In God's Hands" failed to deliver at the box office this summer, it was touted as having the best big-wave footage shown in a general picture release. That's being followed by King's NBC hourlong weekly series "Wind on Water," filmed on the Big Island, which premieres later this month. Surfing plays a major part in the lives of the main characters.

Now two more motion pictures are on the way, focusing on surfing and individual surfers. Both are coming from Universal Pictures.

Tom Hanks' Playtone Productions last month hired Jon Krakauer, who wrote the acclaimed book about hiking Mount Everest, "Into Thin Air," to write the screenplay about Hawaii surfer Mark Foo. Foo died in 1994 while surfing big waves at Half Moon Bay in northern California.

And New York-based October Films, owned by Universal, plans to purchase the rights to Hawaii surfing legend Jeff Hakman's biography "Mr. Sunset."

The Hanks' production is "at least" two years off, the actor's publicist said.

"The script has not yet been written, and there's no director, producer or cast," said Heidi Schaeffer of PMK in Los Angeles. "Tom has two other films in the wings. This (film) is way off."

Though Hanks also surfs, it has not been determined whether the Academy Award-winning actor will appear in the film, or if it will be shot in Hawaii, she said.

A spokesperson for October Films said "Mr. Sunset" will be filmed in Hawaii but that it was not able to provide a starting date since the company is still looking for a producer, director and screenwriter.

October Films partner Scott Greenstein, a surfing fan who visits Hawaii each winter, apparently read "Mr. Sunset" -- written by Australian Phil Jarratt -- and wanted to make a film of Hakman's story, said publicist Sarah Eaton. Though Eaton said Hakman and fellow surfer Kelly Slater, the current world champion, will associate produce the film, Hakman's wife said that has not yet been determined. The Hakmans live in Hanalei on Kauai.

Hakman, who is on a surf trip in Sumatra, is part owner of the Quiksilver surfwear company.

"Mr. Sunset" follows Hakman's career in the surfing world, beginning as a 13-year-old big wave rider, including his win of a national surfing title four years later at the Duke Kahanamoku Classic.

The story also is about Hakman's destructive slide into drugs. He later created the Quiksilver legacy and turned it into a major $500 million surfing retail company.

"Jeff Hakman's life is a great American story," Greenstein said. "He is already legendary with the surfing community; it's a great opportunity for October to bring his story to the big screen for all of America to see."