Soul Surfer production wraps in Hawaii. Bethany Hamilton in
a surf competition. Photo by Noah Hamilton from Wikipedia,
Creative Commons license.
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Soul Surfer, adapted for film from the book of the same name, tells the real-life story of Bethany Hamilton, a competition surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack when 13.
A resident of the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, Bethany was surfing off Tunnels Beach on the island’s North Shore when the accident occurred. Now 20, Bethany still competes in and routinely wins surfing competitions.
Soul Surfer has filmed on Oahu for a little over a month, with AnnaSophia Robb cast as Bethany. The role of her best friend, Alana Blanchard, is played in the movie by Lorraine Nicholson, daughter of Jack Nicholson.
The production also features Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid as Bethany’s parents, and singer Carrie Underwood makes her film debut playing Sarah Hill, the youth pastor credited with assisting Bethany as she adjusted to the loss of her arm.
The film, directed by Sean McNamara, has based its production out of Oahu’s Turtle Bay Resort, which you may remember from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (and to which I would have linked if the site didn’t blare music upon your arrival there).
In addition to Oahu, some filming, mostly establishing shots, was done on Kauai. Robb, Nicholson and Jeremy Sumpter (who plays Byron Blanchard, the brother of Nicholson’s character in the film) traveled there with the director and a skeleton crew to shoot at three North Shore locations: Tunnels Beach, the beginning of the Kalalau Trail (the Hanakapi‘ai Trail) and the Hanalei Pier. The slideshow below will let you visit those three beautiful Kauai locations, all from the comfort of your computer screen. Enjoy!
Bethany’s father, Tom Hamilton, met up with the film’s production at the Hanalei Pier stop. In an interview with The Garden Island newspaper, he offered:
I got to see a preview of the movie. The director is a surfer and is really working toward realism. The portion that I saw was so good it almost made me cry.”
The Soul Surfer production returned for another 10 days filming on Oahu, and it is expected to wrap today. The film is expected to be released sometime in 2011.
Comments
Yep, surfing is one of those activities best viewed (for some of us) from the comfort of a computer keyboard.
Stunning photos! There are few places in the world that rival Kauai for natural beauty. These photos prove that!
I remember reading about this girl when the shark attack happened and thinking "what a remarkable person." I'm sure the movie will be great.
should be a good movie.
This should be a very inspirational movie with the beautiful scenery of Hawaii has a backdrop to the story.
I saw her on TV last year and she is a very impressive young woman.
Great info and movie description about this unique competitor..good job
Cheers..
Any movie filmed in Hawaii has my vote.
sounds like an interesting movie.
Bethany rocks, I am glad to see that they are making a movie about a posibive role model.
This looks like an interesting premise. I'll see it!
I can't actually beleive that I missed Annasophia!!! I've been dying to meet her and finally when she comes around the island I live on, I completely miss her!!!! Awwwww
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