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20th Century Fox Pictures' 2012 coming of age biopic of Santa Cruz’ fallen big-wave surfer Jay Moriarity, starring Gerard Butler, Jonny Weston, and Elisabeth Shue. Michael Apted (

directed during the last 15 days of principal shooting, while original director Curt Hansen (

) recovered from heart surgery. Bill Pope (

) was Director of Photography. The film received a lukewarm reception from mainstream and surf media critics alike, and mostly disappeared at the box office.

takes place in the early- to mid-‘90s and dramatizes Moriarity’s (played by Jonny Weston) obsessive urge to surf Mavericks, which was, at the time, still a relatively unknown big-wave break in Half Moon Bay, located an hour north of Santa Cruz. Moriarity convinces a gruff Mavericks regular named Richard “Frosty” Hesson (Butler) to teach him to ride the break’s deadly surf. In the process, Hesson becomes a father-figure to the fatherless Moriarity.

Much of the film deals with Hesson coaching Moriarity on the “Foundation Pillars of Surfing,” which require the young would-be big-wave surfer to endure exhausting survivalist open ocean workouts, long-term breath holding techniques, and some seriously introspective essay writing on the nature of fear. The film predictably culminates with a 16-year-old Moriarity surfing Mavericks for the first time, wiping out in spectacular fashion, then paddling back out to ride a giant wave, while his mother and Frosty watch proudly from shore. Not included in the film is the untimely death of Moriarity, six years after the events in 

 when, at age 22, he drowned in a freediving accident in the Maldives.

Several professional big-wave riders, including Shawn Dollar, Jeff Clark, Grant Baker, Anthony Tashnick, Ken Collins, Darryl Virostko, and Mark Healey were hired by the producers both for stunt surfing, and to act as advisors. Regular Mavericks surfers Pete Mel, Zach Wormhoudt, and Greg Long all had speaking lines. Hawaiian big-wave ace Brock Little served as stunt coordinator. Filmmaker and Mavericks standout Grant Washburn was Butler’s surf coach and production consultant.

While the narrative arc of Moriarity’s life in the film is mostly ham-fisted, the surf sequences were spectacularly shot and edited. “The cinematography of the big Mavericks scene,” said the late film critic Roger Ebert, “is so frightening that you sort of understand why Frosty stays on the shore, watching Jay with binoculars.” "The most realistic (and terrifying) surf scenes that Hollywood has been able to conjure,” said SURFER magazine.

Cinematography aside, reviewers were mostly unimpressed. “Surf’s Up, Film’s Flat,” said the 

are the thing to watch; the only thing to watch. From 

: “The fictionalized Jay…nearly sinks a story that the real Jay Moriarity surfed into legend.” 

 wrote that “the finished product merely blends into the din of Hollywood mediocrity.” 

 earned a disappointing $6 million in domestic box office receipts, against a reported $20 million production budget; 

 listed the film on its 2012 "Biggest Box Office Bombs" list.

Midway through the production, star Gerard Butler was filming a paddle-out scene at Mavericks when a surprise set washed through and held him underwater for two successive waves. “I had just done a scene earlier where I was talking about a two-wave hold-down and about how fear and panic are the difference between life and death,” Butler told 

 “The next minute I’m underwater and I’m thinking that if I panic in any way, I’m gone.”

The film was released along with a memoir co-written by Hesson called 

Brenda Hesson, Frosty's wife, is played by Abigail Spencer, sister of pro surfer and website cult figure Sterling Spencer.

Chasing Mavericks

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