Raising A Soul Surfer (4 page)

AnnaSophia had highly skilled teachers for the surfing scenes. Her Oahu coach was big wave surfer Noah Johnson. Noah was the surfing stunt double riding the amazing barrel at Pipeline in the movie
Blue Crush
. He is a well-known big wave surfer on the North Shore of Oahu and won the Quicksilver Eddie Aikau big wave competition at Waimea Bay back in January 1, 1999.
²
On Kauai, AnnaSophia worked with Bethany’s own world-famous surf coach Russell Lewis, who sets up his lessons out of Hanalei Surf Company. (He is a former Australian Junior Champion.)

AnnaSophia was a quick study for surfing, partly because she’d been involved with dance, gymnastics and swimming in school. She is a natural athlete like her father and has the gracious charm of her mother. We gave her an A+ as a beginner!

Jack Nicholson’s daughter played Alana with such a natural finesse. Loraine is a charming young actress in front of the
camera. She did a great job barfing on the beach just like the real Alana did after the shark attack! Loraine made us cry, but she also made us laugh while she skillfully played Alana with an uncanny likeness. Noah Johnson coached Loraine Nicholson for the more serious role that she had to play.

Sonya (Balmores) Chung is married to Noah’s friend Kanoah, who is an avid and talented surfer on Kauai. In real life, Sonya, an excellent surfer, competed against Alana and Bethany in their younger years. Noah was walking by some of the producers in the office and overheard them discussing who could play the part of Malina Birch. They were considering an actress from outside the U.S. when Noah suggested Sonya Chung, a surfer and local Hawaii actress. God has His perfect timing!

Ross Thomas and Chris Brochu, who play our sons, Noah and Tim, were both already natural watermen. They matched our sons’ characters perfectly. It was fun watching everyone surf Makaha; and afterward, Chris often entertained us with his guitar and singing.

Kevin Sorbo was matchless in his role! He naturally fit the part of Holt, just like a real hero, and was the perfect surf dad to Alana, Holt’s daughter, played by Loraine Nicholson. For his surf lessons, Kevin chose to focus on what he needed to know to look cool and confident on the beach and in the water. He needed to look like an experienced surfer and got tips on detailed aspects of surfing, such as holding his surfboard in a natural manner against a strong wind; how to wax a surfboard like you have been doing it for 35 years; and (this is critical) how to walk across the reef during the rescue scene with very rough waves breaking on the rocks along with an incoming tide! This was one of the toughest scenes to shoot in the whole movie.

Bethany suggested that Jeremy Sumpter, who starred in the 2003 movie
Peter Pan
, play the role of Byron, Holt’s son, and the
producers agreed. Because of the movie time constraints, his role was limited. The most physically challenging scene in the movie is when Kevin and Jeremy rescue Bethany right after she loses her arm. The camera crew, and even the director, had to live in their wetsuits for days as pounding surf bombarded them. The medic was kept busy with reef cuts and coral implants! Kevin handled it all like a champ.

Arlene Newman-Van Asperen, who plays Sydney, Alana’s mother and Holt’s wife, is a Hawaii girl from the North Shore of Oahu. Naturally, Arlene fit right into the surf scenes for the movie. She has studied acting for years and won Mrs. Hawaii in 2005. Arlene was my regular prayer partner during the making of
Soul Surfer
. She is gracefully skilled and gifted at Hawaiian dancing. She grew up involved in church, as her father is a minister and her mother a strong prayer warrior. We called her mom a few times to request prayer when we were feeling overwhelmed! Arlene’s part was small, but she got to hang out with Kevin Sorbo!

Sarah Hill, Bethany’s youth pastor, was hired as a makeup artist. She had met Jesus as her Lord and Savior in Southern California. While surfing a California beach break, she took a bad wipeout and broke her neck and back. God miraculously healed her. Prayer was a strong point in her spiritual life, which is how she received divine direction to move to Hawaii. No one believed her, but she chose to trust God’s guidance. She made the move over to Kauai and settled in as a youth leader at North Shore Community Church where we attend. Sarah built friendships with the girls through surfing and Bible study; then the shark attack occurred.

Carrie Underwood landed this key role as youth leader in the film. I believe she fit her role perfectly and had a powerful impact on the outcome of the scene where she spoke the words
of Jeremiah 29:11. After going back and forth on whether to keep the verse in the script, the battle ended when Carrie stated that it was a part of the real story and we all should honor the family’s wishes.

As believers on the north shore of Kauai, we have fellowshipped and gathered in the name of Jesus at many different locations. Our church has never had our own “home,” where you put down solid material roots, housing such tools as a Christian library with loads of great books, DVDs, kids’ videos, a prayer chapel, a fine-tuned nursery or an actual building to meet midweek for worship and Bible studies and other gatherings.

Presently we meet under a yellow and green tent with a beautiful shade tree for our prayer chapel.

When the film director Sean McNamara came over to scout out locations for certain scenes, he attended church with us under the tent. But this wasn’t where we attend church; it was at Becky’s father’s church, where he is the worship leader/assistant pastor. Raise your hand if you meet under a tent to worship God! And raise your hand if your son has married a beautiful girl who also meets for worship under another tent! We were on a time crunch and this service fit into the tight schedule. After all, what is the difference between one tent and another? (Visitors must think that here on Kauai we all meet in tents for church services!)

The day we showed up at the beach park for shooting the church tent scene, which I thought was going to be filmed on Kauai but wasn’t, I was taken by total surprise. The scene was gloriously beautiful. A white tent was set up on the grass next to the sparkling blue water at a beach park in Kahuku. Tears filled my eyes as I looked on the scene. A large standing wooden
cross was set up outside and was included in a scene. And it was so special to watch Timmy work with the camera crew. He has a very amiable personality, and the crew enjoyed working with him. Tom and I, along with some of our friends and some friends and family of other key people, were in the church scene as extras. Imagine that! We got paid to go to church!

Tom and I sat behind Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt. Then we all sang the special theme song God had given our family right after the shark attack, “Blessed Be Your Name,” written by Matt and Beth Redman. We sang it over and over, for take after take after take, but I never got tired of it. We sang it with different angles and slight adjustments, and it was fun, fun, fun!

The funniest part of filming the scene related to our daughter-in-law, Becky, working her job as co-producer. Because Sean McNamara is himself a talented musician, he is great at managing the music scenes. Sean put Becky in charge of keeping us, the worshipers, on track as we sang. Becky’s hand stuck out from behind a curtain and went up and down in time with the proper beat as the cameras rolled on us. All we could see was this hand leading worship. It was hilarious! Later, because we spent most of the day filming the tent church scene, the cameras focused on the worship team, which included Becky leading worship along with Carrie Underwood, a friend of Noah’s and a girl from San Diego.

The Sunday after Bethany left the hospital after the attack, we all attended church together. For the last song, the worship team played “Blessed Be Your Name,” and God totally spoke to me through that song. Some of the words say, “He [God] gives and takes away! Blessed be His name!” We rejoiced together in the truth that no matter what happens in our lives, we are in His hands and He orchestrates our experiences for His divine purposes. This song gave me so much peace. We knew that our
heavenly Father was reaching out to us to let us know that He watches over us.

With God’s impeccable timing, this song was played in every church service we attended as we traveled during the next year—Australia, New Jersey, England, California, Haleiwa, and many other places. It was a confirmation that we were in His will. At the end of this season, during which I was going through a trial, I asked God to confirm an issue of my heart by playing “Blessed Be Your Name” at church—He did it! I was very surprised and felt very loved by Him.

When the boys were little, I noticed that they had opposite personalities. Timmy had singular focus while Noah had a myriad antennae all tuned in to anything and everything that was going on. Noah’s ability to multitask came into play in countless ways in the making of
Soul Surfer
. His tenacious spirit helped him become part of the production team. Heaven provided Becky, our son Noah’s wife! She had recently graduated from California State University Fullerton with a degree in filmmaking. Noah and Becky were hired as co-producers to help fine-tune many critical details, some small and others very big. For instance, Noah was a stickler about the clothes that would or would not be worn by surfers portrayed in the movie. They both were involved and made a difference in casting, locations and music. Noah made sure the surfing scenes were kept as authentic as possible.

Except for the few who already knew how to surf, the cast of
Soul Surfer
was schooled on just how difficult it is to balance on a chunk of slick-glassed foam while thousands of pounds of churning water propel you either toward rocks or reef or crashing
shorebreak. I know that surfing looks easy; but trust me, compared to almost any other sport, the learning curve for advanced surfing is almost vertical.

You can fast-track your beginner surfing experience with lessons on safety, etiquette and the main surfing skills to minimize your mistakes and possible injuries. It may sound as if no one would want to go back after a challenging day of surf lessons, but the crew of
Soul Surfer
really got with it. Having the right equipment, the right weather and wind conditions, along with perfect beginner waves, one can quickly learn the basics and enjoy riding the warm waves here in Hawaii.

The most important aspect in the film was showcasing Bethany’s real surfing abilities, which Noah promoted in Tahiti. Becky was on set every day, advising Sean, our director, about every detail with dialogue, surf lingo and the accuracy of Bethany’s portrayal. Noah worked on the water unit team that spent hours filming the competitions. He helped head up and organize the Kauai unit for some of the most dramatic backdrops used in the film. Noah and Becky worked long hours assisting the art department, wardrobe, product placement and stock footage. As one of the set photographers, Noah documented the daily shoots with still photography while Becky videoed the same.

As the filming of
Soul Surfer
progressed, we focused on helping to bring out the real details of the story rather than fiction. There are too many facts in the whole story that are not believable! The entire family, especially Noah and Becky, took great pains to ensure that the film realistically portrayed the surf culture, island life and, of course, our Christian faith. Noah and Becky also rounded up any and all of our Oahu friends to work and be a part of the surf contests or church crowd.

We were especially pleased that Noah was able to get Mike Coots, his friend from surfing, who lived a few houses away
from us when we were living in Kilauea, Kauai, involved in the film. Mike had lost his foot to a shark attack in 1998. This occurred while Mike was body boarding on the west side of Kauai with a group of friends who were all highly ranked competitors in the contest arena. He lost the lower part of his leg but survived by fighting the shark off with his bare hands. Like Bethany, Mike didn’t let his loss keep him from enjoying the ocean. With the help of a specially designed prosthetic leg, he has learned to stand-up surf along with continuing his passion for body boarding.