Surf film, Drift, tells the story of Australia’s rich surfing history

That’s the belief actor Myles Pollard, best known for his long-running role on television drama McLeod’s Daughter, had for new Australian surf film Drift after he was approached with the script seven years ago.

Drift tells the story of Australia’s rich surfing history, inspired by the origins of labels such as Billabong, Quiksilver and Rip Curl before they became international brands, underpinned with the tale of a family’s struggle to survive as they work towards turning a passion for surfing into a viable business.

‘‘I think what happened in the ’70s was quite extraordinary,’’ Pollard, who plays the film’s lead role, tells Weekender.

‘‘The fact that these knockabout larrikins, these surfers, in small country towns all across Australia were coming out of the ’60s – a conservative time – and fought desperately to make a better life for themselves.

‘‘They were trying to do stuff they wanted to do, to try to create a life out of what they loved doing, which was surfing and creating surf lifestyle products.

‘‘In doing so they created the pillars of the modern surf industry: companies like Billabong, Rip Curl and Quiksilver, these companies became global players and they’re still icons to this very day.

‘‘No one was ever been able to emulate what they did. It was built on authenticity and integrity and that was their whole brand, and so for me that was such a pivotal part of surfing culture history.

‘‘It was such a formative part of Australian history and it had never been done thematically. It’s a story that’s been waiting to be told.

‘‘There was something quite amazing about the time that sort of defines us now and we wanted to explore that.’’

Set in the late 1960s and ’70s, the character-based action drama Drift tells the story of the Kelly brothers Andy (Pollard) and Jimmy (played by Xavier Samuel, star of Twilight and 2008 feature film Newcastle) who grow up in Western Australia’s surfing community. They fight against the odds to make a backyard surf business a success while battling bikies, police, money woes and drug problems.

While Jimmy’s natural instinct is to create and express himself through surfing, Andy sees a way out of their life of poverty by turning their shared passion for surfing into a legitimate business and revolutionising board design (just like Newcastle’s legendary Sam Egan – see opposite page).

The story began with film producer Tim Duffy (raised in Gracetown and Yallingup in south-west WA) who conceived the concept of Drift almost a decade ago.

He wrote it as a rough draft before constructing a script in 2007 which he took to Pollard who, as surfer himself born and raised in WA, felt a connection with the story and agreed to come on board as producer.

Pollard gave the script to long-time friend and surfing buddy, actor Sam Worthington. He met Worthington 16 years ago when they successfully auditioned in Perth to gain entry into the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney.

Although they didn’t know each other as teenagers, both used to surf in the Margaret River area where Drift was filmed.

After reading the script, Worthington asked to play the role of peace-loving surf photographer and filmmaker JB – a significant shift from his Hollywood career starring in blockbuster hits such as Avatar and Clash of the Titans.

Even though they have remained friends since graduating from NIDA, Drift is the first time they have worked together

‘‘We went our different ways. He obviously got out of NIDA and went off to America and hit it big that way and I went off to to McLeod’s Daughters for five years, but every step of the way we’d touch base and cross paths,’’ Pollard says.

‘‘Suddenly, 15 years into it, we had the opportunity to do something together.’’

Pollard knew Worthington would be right for the role, which involved shooting in various locations along the remote WA coastline – from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin, including Margaret River, Augusta, Gracetown and Nannup.

Worthington more than proved he could handle himself during his first scene, which required him being two kilometres off shore in the boiling ocean. ‘‘When Sam and I when we were living in Sydney going to NIDA, we used to always go up to Seal Rocks and surf, so I knew he could handle that world on a physical level,’’ Pollard says.

‘‘It’s one thing to say ‘Yeah, let’s get an actor in the water’ but it’s another thing to say ‘Let’s get an actor two kilometres off shore in a massive swell and bob around there in that environment’

‘‘It’s totally safe, but it’s still quite intimidating. But I knew Sam could handle that. And he did.’’

Principal photography on Drift took place over six weeks in August and September 2011 in and around WA’s rugged and beautiful south-west region, which is known for having several spots that are among the largest and most dangerous waves ever ridden, including the notorious break known as the “Cow Bombie”.

The location set the scene for the film’s most gripping sequence featuring Samuel’s character Jimmy towed in on a monster wave – estimated to be in the 30- to 40-foot range – known as the biggest surfable wave in Australia.

They shot in winter specifically to get that break and luckily landed it on the very first day of the 32-day shoot.

‘‘We so struck it lucky. It was ridiculous,’’ says Pollard, who shot most of his own surfing scenes. ‘‘We didn’t have the luxury of a huge budget to be able to extend our schedule or hold Sam back for a few days.

‘‘We had to shoot in 32 days. If we didn’t shoot it, it wouldn’t have been in the film. It’s probably the marquee action sequence in the film. That place [Cow Bombie] breaks two times a year generally. It’s a massive break off the coast of Margaret River and it broke the first day of shooting.

‘‘We had to have all of our systems in place and we got to test how prepared we were when the very first day we had to go out when we had to organise the helicopter, we had to get all the rubber duckies in order, all the stuntmen and stunt surfers and shoot probably one of the most dangerous action sequences that I’ve ever seen in the water.’’

Pollard laughs, recalling the stunt co-ordinator’s assumption they would use visual effects for the scene.

‘‘He was laughing saying ‘I love this sequence. You’re using visual effects are you?’ and we all paused and I said ‘No, we want to take an actor over a 25-foot wave in a boat’ and he laughed and said ‘You’re kidding me aren’t you?’ and I said ‘No’ and then he went ‘All right!’ because it had never been done.

‘‘That was the first day of shooting, so there were a lot of nervous moments. But we were lucky – nothing happened, no one was hurt and we’re here to tell the story.’’

Besides hitting Australian cinema screens next week, Drift is set for a US release and has already won a prize at the Rincon International Film Festival in Puerto Rico, where it was judge best narrative feature.

The film premiered last month under the stars in Yallingup, coinciding with the Margaret River Pro which allowed a contingent of internationally renowned surfers including Jake Patterson, Mark Occhilupo and Taj Burrows to attend.

‘‘We always wanted to get a tick of a approval, I suppose, from the surfing community,’’ Pollard says.

‘‘We always wanted to create the definitive Australian surf film. We don’t think it’s ever been done really. The last film that did it right, at least in our minds, was Big Wednesday.

‘‘Not that that was an Australian film but we wanted to create a film that had a legacy that was timeless and, to do that, we needed the surf community to say the project had integrity.

‘‘It was a nerve-racking experience but they all loved it.’’

Drift opens nationally on May 2.