The Writer Of Point Break Has Written A Sequel Series About Johnny Utah's Daughter
Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 thriller "Point Break" is one of the best action movies of all time, full stop. It's a perfect blend of character and conflict, captured with beautiful sun-drenched photography and told with a propulsive editing style which always keeps things moving while never falling prey to overly quick cutting. It also features Keanu Reeves screaming the words "I AM AN FBI AGENT!" in Patrick Swayze's face before a bank robbery, so ... yeah, it's pretty much perfect.
Over a decade ago, there was talk of a possible sequel called "Point Break: Indo" (more on that in a minute). That project never came together, but the movie's writer, Peter W. Iliff, appeared on the latest episode of the Script Apart podcast and revealed that he has written a "Point Break" TV show that revolves around the daughter of Johnny Utah, the undercover agent played by Keanu Reeves.
Johnny Utah is Missing
In the new podcast episode, Iliff explains that he's written a show about Utah's daughter, an Olympic snowboarder who blows out her knee and leads her down a path of extremes involving fast cars, painkillers, and addiction. Years later, she's sober and joins the FBI. I'll let Iliff explain from here:
"Johnny Utah has been missing. His body's not been found. He's [been reported] dead for years. There's a mystery around where he is, and you're going to find out – he's not dead. There's a bigger story that evolves around that, while she gets involved in this eco-terrorist movement, which of course is now a big thing.
There are two sides to the movement. There are those who are trying to get corporations to do the right thing to save our planet. And there are those who'll put a gun in their hand and maybe rob a bank to fund their more violent approach. The FBI is after these people. She's sent to go deep undercover with this group and it's the same [question as in 'Point Break']: which side of the badge are you on?"
The writer also explained that this movie's equivalent of Patrick Swayze's Bodhi, the bank-robbing guru who lured Johnny Utah to the dark side with his sheer charisma and sexual energy, is a solo mountain climber named Cyprus. Having that role be played by a member of the opposite sex radically changes the dynamic between those archetypal characters, and since the homoerotic energy of "Point Break" is essential to why it works so well, I'm not sure that switching things up will play quite as well.
There's also a big twist that's built into the story, but you'll have to listen to the episode to get that detail.
Why It Might Not Happen
Unfortunately for all of the Breakers out there (that's the name of the die hard "Point Break" fan base that I just made up), this TV sequel series might not ever come to fruition – at least not with the "Point Break" name attached to it. The reason? You can blame the 2015 remake, which Iliff says was "critically panned" and did not perform well enough financially to impress the production company that holds the rights.
"They made an offer to Keanu to executive produce this television series – not to star in it, just to executive produce. But Keanu's busy. He's just done 'Matrix 4,' he's doing 'John Wick 4' and '5' back-to-back ... he's a busy man, so we can't get his commitment, so I can't get Alcon [Entertainment] to do this. So I might have to retitle it something else. The title I have is 'The Wild Side.' I'd rename the characters, but in our hearts, we'd know it's the continuation of the 'Point Break' story."
'Utah ... Get Me Two'
If this sequel show ends up disappearing on a giant wave like Bodhi at the end of the original movie, it wouldn't be the first time a continuation of "Point Break" wiped out. Back in 2007, a sequel titled "Point Break: Indo" was reportedly in the works, which would have revealed that Bodhi actually survived that 50 year storm and got back into robbing banks. Here's an old synopsis:
When Billy Dalton, military special ops and star surfer, is disqualified from the pro-surfing tour, he takes off for the coast of Bali looking for the perfect wave. While there he's recruited by a private security force who are trying to find a gang known as The Bush Administration, surfing outlaws and modern day pirates who work like "The Ex-Presidents," a bank robbing crew from Malibu twenty years ago.
Swayze was supposed to come back (no Keanu this time, though), and Jan de Bont ("Twister") was attached to direct. But by 2009, the movie seemed to have fallen apart – and tragically, Swayze himself died of cancer that same year.