Tagline: A major ocean picture.
Surf’s Up movie storyline. Followed by a camera crew to document his experiences, Cody leaves his family and home in Shiverpool, Antarctica to travel to Pen Gu Island for the Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Along the way, Cody meets Sheboygan surfer Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), famous surf promoter Reggie Belafonte (James Woods), surf talent scout Mikey Abromowitz (Mario Cantone), and spirited lifeguard Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel), all of whom recognize Cody’s passion for surfing, even if it’s a bit misguided at times. Cody believes that winning will bring him the admiration and respect he desires, but when he unexpectedly comes face-to-face with a washed-up old surfer (Jeff Bridges), Cody begins to find his own way, and discovers that a true winner isn’t always the one who comes in first.
Surf’s Up is an animated action-comedy that delves behind the scenes of the high-octane world of competitive surfing. The film profiles teenage Rockhopper penguin Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), an up-and-coming surfer, as he enters his first pro competition.
Surf’s Up is a 2007 American computer-animated mockumentary directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. It features the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, James Woods, and Jon Heder among others. In production since 2002 at Sony Pictures Animation, it was the studio’s second theatrical feature.
The film premiered in the United States on June 8, 2007, and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. It is a parody of surfing documentaries, such as The Endless Summer and Riding Giants, with parts of the plot parodying North Shore. Real-life surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have vignettes as their penguin surfer counterparts. To obtain the desired hand-held documentary feel, the film’s animation team motion-captured a physical camera operator’s moves.
About the Production
Surf’s Up is a fresh, fun animated comedy that immerses audiences in the competitive world of surfing penguins. For producer Christopher Jenkins, that hilarious starting point led to a breakthrough in how to present the story of upand- coming surfer Cody Maverick.
“The notion of surfing penguins really got me thinking. What if, instead of being a straightforward fantasy narrative, Surf’s Up went into the world of animation with a hypothetically authentic camera, as if it were taping live interviews and ostensibly no script?” says Jenkins. “What would these surfing penguins tell us if they were given a chance? From there it was a short step to realizing the potential of this coupling – the imagination of animation paired with the realism and immediacy of today’s real-life video.”
Directors Ash Brannon (co-director of Toy Story 2) and Chris Buck (director of Tarzan) quickly realized the cleverness in the idea: relying on the conventions and style of reality television and documentary filmmaking, Surf’s Up would have an immediacy and relevance that set it apart from the pack. Using that technique, the directors brought into focus the characters, story, and art direction – the heart of the film.
That intimate cinematic style perfectly supported the story that developed from the inspiring concept of surfing penguins devised by veteran animation executives Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox.
At the center of the story, the filmmakers placed the relationship between Cody, a young, up-and-coming surfer who thinks that becoming a champion will bring him the respect he feels he deserves, and Big Z, the onetime legendary surfer who everybody thinks has passed on, but in fact has been living alone as a hermit for the past decade.
“Having lost his father, Cody is clearly looking for a father figure, and the legend of Big Z had filled that void; because Z was a champion, that’s what Cody thought he wanted to be, too. But when Cody enters Z’s life, Z is forced to come to terms with his past and face life as a champion whose glory days are over,” says director Ash Brannon. “When Cody finds out that Z is still alive, they naturally fall into those father-son roles – the good and the challenging – and both realize that nothing could matter less than a trophy. It’s their passion for being out on the waves that counts most.”
To absorb audiences into Cody’s world, every detail had to be appropriate to the experience. “One of our main goals was to take the viewer to a tropical location,” said director Chris Buck. “We wanted to recreate that feeling you get when you step off the plane in a place like Tahiti or Hawaii, and you’re hit by that amazing scent and air and even by how different the light is. You really know that you’re somewhere special.”
An ensemble of talented actors form the voice cast of Surf’s Up. Leading the way is Shia LaBeouf, who takes on the role of Cody Maverick. He is joined by fourtime Academy Award nominee Jeff Bridges, playing Big Z; Zooey Deschanel as Lani; Jon Heder as Chicken Joe; James Woods as Reggie; Mario Cantone as Mikey; and Diedrich Bader as Tank.
Because of the behind-the-scenes nature of the film, it was necessary that the characters speak in a natural way – including improvised and overlapping dialogue. In a typical animation voiceover session, actors are alone in the booth as they record their characters’ lines. This allows the animators, editors and sound designers more flexibility in splicing together different performances.
For Surf’s Up, the filmmakers made the highly unconventional choice to record many scenes with several actors in the booth at once. “A performance is completely different when you have the other actors there in the room with you – you get a sense of what they’re doing and react to each other in a natural way,” says LaBeouf. “For a movie like Surf’s Up – which is supposed to go behind the scenes, showing what happens in the natural environment – it was essential, and I’m glad we had the creative freedom to find the magic.”
Jeff Bridges notes that when he was acting in the recording booth alongside LaBeouf, the two could not help but mirror the relationship that their characters have on-screen. “I have daughters that are Shia’s age – I think because of that, I naturally kind of fell into that. Also, when I was his age, I was an actor – I had a lot of the excitement he’s going through now. It was terrific to work with him; he’s a great improviser and he was having fun doing it.”
This technique paid off in several scenes, especially when Big Z and Cody Maverick cooperate on shaping a surfboard. “The actors were more comfortable recording dialogue with other actors in the film, and it comes through in the performance,” Buck said. “Jeff, Shia, and Zooey were brilliant in playing off of and working with each other. They really took ownership of their characters.”
The result is a film that reinforces Sony Pictures Animation’s philosophy of promoting the filmmakers’ creativity and vision. Following the division’s successful launch last fall with the animated hit Open Season, Sony Pictures Animation has proven to be a home for great talent.
“As a surfer and a dad, I knew how much fun it would be to share those experiences with an audience in our film’s unique style,” says Yair Landau, President of Sony Pictures Digital and Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “Over the past five years, we have built a story-driven animation studio powered by Imageworks’ 15 years of visual effects artistry. That’s all on the screen in Surf’s Up, a beautiful demonstration of who we are and where animation is headed.”
“Surf’s Up is a gorgeous production that enables audiences to share the lives of delightful characters,” adds Sandra Rabins, Executive Vice President of Sony Pictures Animation. “Every detail of their world can be seen and enjoyed, from the smallest grain of sand to the magnificent beauty of the setting sun. It’s like going to the beach without getting wet!”
Surf’s Up is an example of the symbiotic relationship between the filmmakers at Sony Pictures Animation, which developed the project, and Sony Pictures Imageworks, which brought their vision to life. David Schaub, the film’s senior animation supervisor, points out that even though the animators of Surf’s Up use a computer instead of a pencil, the film is no less hand-crafted. “What appears to be spontaneous in animation is a result of creating each performance down to the last little eye-dart. Every little nuance and detail is toiled over to assure that the message and performance come across clearly.”
Surf’s Up (2007)
Directed by: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Shia LaBeouf, Zooey Deschanel, James Woods, Jane Krakowski, Jon Heder, Mario Cantone, Brian Benben, Chris Buck, Dana Belben, Sal Masekela, Teresa Ganzel
Screenplay by: Lisa Addario, Joe Syracuse
Production Design by: Paul Lasaine
Film Editing by: Ivan Bilancio, Nancy Frazen
Art Direction by: Sylvain Deboissy, Ron Lukas, Marcelo Vignali
Music by: Mychael Danna
MPAA Rating: PG for mild language and some rude humor.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: June 8, 2007
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