1

Co-Producer Rick King got the idea for the movie while taking a surfing lesson in Malibu. He’d recently read about LA being the bank robbery capital of the world and the marriage of the two (surfing and bank robbery) inspired him.

2

The screen play was written, in 3-drafts, by aspiring screen writer Peter Iliff for $6,000. Iliff had been working as a waiter at the time.

3

After Ridley Scott pulled out of the project, it was resuscitated by Kathryn Bigelow, who made it her fourth film with the help of her husband James Cameron—who received no credits for his work.

4

One of the early working titles was “Johnny Utah and the Riders on the Storm.”

5

Before casting Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp and Matthew Broderick’s names had been attached to the role.

6

The role of Bodhi was never up in the air, however, as Patrick Swayze immediately wanted to play the bank robber with a conscience. Swayze remarked that the character spiritually reflected his own.

7

Swayze and Reeves had previously worked together on a film titled, Youngblood. After that movie finished filming, Swayze was already convinced Keanu would go on to be a star.

8

Swayze paid the price for his role physically, suffering several injuries during filming. He broke his ribs while learning to surf and then busted his knee so bad that a doctor had to be brought in to drain it every night.

9

FBI Special Agent William J. Rehder served as a mentor to Reeves for the film. Help he says never made it into the film itself. Rehder also says Point Break is “one of the dumbest bank robbery movies ever made.”

10

During the movie’s pivotal foot chase, Bodhi remains masked the entire time. Not only is this integral to the plot, but it also became necessary because Swayze was in Europe promoting Ghost when the scene was shot. After viewing the scene, Swayze remarked he was glad he missed out.

11

For the skydiving scenes featuring the main characters, the actors were put into a rig that held them in the air about 10 feet off the ground. Cameramen were attached to the same rig so they could move as if skydiving too.

12

Swayze enjoyed the skydiving scenes so much, he took it up in real life. While filming, he convinced other actors, including Gary Busey, to join him on his jumps—until the studio shut it down that is. Apparently having your star jumping out of planes in his free time isn’t a worthwhile risk.

13

For the final climactic scene where Bodhi surfs the huge wave, big-wave rider Darrick Doener was brought in. While cruising down the liquid monster, Doerner purposely took a dive off his board to make it look like Bodhi had gone down for good.