The Greatest Surf Movie in the Universe, described as “the most absurd feature film on the planet”, premieres Monday, April 3 at Reading Cinema, Waurn Ponds.
But the stop-motion comedy, created by surf videographer Nick Pollet, may never have been made if not for the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve had the idea in my brain for over 10 years, ever since I saw Team America, but I never thought I’d make something in that realm,” Pollet said.
“Then when COVID first hit, I had no work on. I thought, maybe this is my time to do that stop-motion thing I was thinking.
“I had a bobblehead of Mick Fanning on my desk and a Superman figurine, so I ripped the head off that and put Mick’s head on there and thought it looked pretty funny. So I downloaded a stop-motion program and got the ball rolling.”
The film, written and directed by Pollet and Vaughan Blakey, stars a bevy of elite surfers as the voice talent, as well as surfing broadcasters Joe Turpel and Ronnie Blakey and Luke Hemsworth as the narrator.
When the world’s collective memories of surfing are completely wiped, the surf god Huey enlists yoga teacher Mick Fanning to put together a crack squad of former champion surfers to create the greatest ever surf movie and return surfing to the world.
Pollet said none of the surfers had read a script or knew how the story played out, and had only seen the trailer a week ago.
“We didn’t want to give the movie away to the surfers because we wanted it to be exciting for them when they saw it for the first time,” he said.
“We just gave them their lines one at a time and told them the emotion we wanted. And it was really fun, we were all laughing and they were like, what the hell is this?”
The addition of Hemsworth was an important one for the project, said Pollet.
“He’s a good friend of Mick (Wilkinson) and I’d filmed them surfing a few years back, so I got his number off Mick,” he said.
“It was so good having someone with that much talent, he really gave us confidence. He was such a legend, it was crazy, he was so good to work with.”
Writer/directors Pollet and Blakey will both be at the world premiere in Waurn Ponds, where they will also host a Q&A session after the film.
“I feel like I’ve achieved something more than I could ever hoped for, I’m really stoked,” Pollet said.
“It’s a comedy about farts and dicks – it’s stupid – but for me, making people laugh is my favourite thing.”
