Layne Beachley Movies

Second generation surfing documentarian Dana Brown (son to Bruce Brown, who directed The Endless Summer 2) strikes out with his own original piece of filmmaking with his 2003 ode to the world's surfing enthusiasts entitled Step Into Liquid. Part travelogue, and part attempt to redefine surfing's image, Brown travels to some of the ordinary surfing locales -- such as Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States -- as well as some rather unexpected ones, including the west coast of Wisconsin on Lake Michigan to Easter Island to a secular surfing school in Ireland. While in these diverse locations, Brown interviews the numerous souls whose lives have been taken over by the lure of surfing, ranging from seasoned professionals to casual hobbyists, in an attempt to dispel the myth of surfers being perpetually stoned slackers. Step Into Liquid was selected to screen at a handful of film festivals in 2003, including the Nodance Film Festival in Park City, UT. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

Move over, Gidget -- a new breed of female surfers with style, guts and attitude hit the screen in this feature, which combines romance with a sports drama. Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) is a young woman living in Hawaii who has been surfing since she was a little girl, and over the past year has been training for the prestigious Pipe Masters surfing competition. But Anne Marie is still dealing with emotional baggage that's holding her back -- her mother abandoned her years ago, leaving her to raise her younger sister Penny (Mika Boorem) while having to guide herself through adolescence, and Anne Marie nearly drowned while trying to surf the famous Maui Pipeline three years ago, and has yet to shake the anxieties of this traumatic event. Anne Marie and Penny share a house with Anne Marie's friends Lena (Sanoe Lake) and Eden (Michelle Rodriguez), both fellow surf enthusiasts, and the three friends work as maids at a hotel, a job which offers them flexible hours for riding the waves. When a pro football team checks into the hotel, Anne Marie meets Matt (Matthew Davis), a promising quarterback who has his eye on her. Anne Marie is just as attracted to Matt as he is to her, but will Anne Marie have to choose between the man of her dreams and the recognition as a surfer she's worked for years to receive? Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sanoe Lake did all their own surfing in Blue Crush; Bosworth and Rodriguez went into training to learn the sport before shooting began, while Lake, a native Hawaiian, was already a confirmed surf enthusiast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi