While Sam Worthington does get some flack around these parts for not being much of a presence in the big, expensive blockbusters that orbit around him, we’ll give him credit for following up his “Avatar” success with some smaller, more interesting choices. The relationship drama “Last Night,” the thriller “Man On A Ledge,” the crime drama “The Fields” and the assassin pic “The Debt” are all waiting in the wings for the actor and he’s signed on for another film, and no, it doesn’t involve having blue skin.
THR reports that Worthington has joined “Drift,” an Aussie surfing action pic. Written by Morgan O’Neill who will co-direct with Ben Nott, the story is set in 1972 and follows “the Fisher brothers as they start a new life in a remote Australian coastal town where they come up against suspicious locals, killer waves and ruthless bikers as they struggle to kick-start a new business based on surfing, their greatest passion.”
Meh, sounds kind of overly familiar, but as Screen Australia acting CEO Fiona Cameron notes, it’s in a genre not generally explored on the big screen and she has big ambitions for the project, “The unique combination of surfing and performance expertise gives ‘Drift’ the potential to be the first character-driven action movie set in the surfing world since Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Point Break.’” Hell, if they can even get in that ballpark, we’ll be interested.
The film will shoot on location in the Margaret River region of western Australia later this year. Surfs up.
