Soul Surfer (film)
Encyclopedia
Soul Surfer is a 2011 American drama film about the life of surfer Bethany Hamilton
. At the age of thirteen, Hamilton lost her arm to a shark attack
. The film details the events surrounding this attack and her struggle during the aftermath. The film is directed by Sean McNamara
, who based the screenplay on Hamilton's autobiography of the same name and on the filmmakers' interviews with the family. The title refers to a term coined in the 1960s to denote someone who surfs purely for pleasure
, but the word soul has a double meaning as a reference to Hamilton's Christian faith
, which helped her recover her surfing career after the attack. AnnaSophia Robb
stars as Hamilton, and Dennis Quaid
and Helen Hunt
star as Hamilton's parents.
Plans for a film existed since shortly after the shark attack on Hamilton in 2003 and her subsequent recovery. After several false starts to production, McNamara was attached to direct the film. While the film is based on Hamilton's 2004 biographical book, the director and producer David Brookwell
interviewed the family to learn about unpublished conflicts to include in the film. Filming took place in Hawaii in early 2010, and Robb wore a green sleeve on her arm so visual effects could be added in post-production to create the appearance of a stump. Additional filming took place in Tahiti in August 2010.
FilmDistrict, which was launched in September 2010, formed a partnership with TriStar Pictures
to release Soul Surfer in theaters. The company originally anticipated releasing the film in , but the company was impressed enough with the final product to pursue a release in . The film was released in theaters in the United States and Canada on , 2011.
lives in Kauai, Hawaii with her parents Tom and Cheri, and two brothers, Noah and Timmy. All are surfers
, but she and her best friend Alana Blanchard
have grown up with a passion for the sport and enter a competition. Her church youth ministry leader, Sarah Hill, is disappointed when she has to withdraw from a planned missions trip because of the contest.
Bethany and Alana place first and third, respectively, while the second place winner, Malina Birch, proves to be resentful. Bethany invites both girls up on the winner's box with her, but Malina ungraciously refuses. The Rip Curl
surfwear company offers to sponsor her and Alana in competition.
The night before Halloween, Alana and Bethany sneak off with some friends to go night surfing. Later, while Tom goes to the hospital for knee surgery, both girls go surfing with Alana's father and brother. As Bethany dangles her left arm in the water, a tiger shark appears out of nowhere and sinks its teeth into it, biting it off near the shoulder.
Alana's father Holt gets Bethany out of the water and puts a tourniquet
on her while his son Byron calls 911. An ambulance meets them on the way to the hospital. Just before starting Tom's surgery, Dr. Rovinsky is called to the emergency room to treat Bethany. She has lost her left arm, along with 60% of her blood and he calls her survival a miracle.
Bethany's injury disqualifies her from the Rip Curl photo shoots, but she wishes Alana well. Rip Curl is supportive of her, providing a prosthetic arm. It is cosmetically perfect and has bendable joints, but she angrily rejects it when she learns it will not help her surf. The onslaught of paparazzi also proves to be a great strain on her family and their privacy.
The family, however, bears no ill will towards the Blanchards for taking her out to the place where she was attacked, and Cheri even tells Holt that she is grateful he was there, for his quick thinking and decisive action saved her life.
Bethany perseveres and, after a recuperation period, gets back in the water and learns to surf with one arm, eventually re-entering the competition. She tells her rival Malina not to take it easy on her, and rejects a five-minute head start offered by the judges. She doesn't perform well because she can't stay on the board long enough to go out and catch a competitive wave, and Malina wins. Disheartened, she decides to give up competitive surfing.
She sees the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on television, which places her own problems in perspective. She decides to surprise Sarah by joining the youth group on another mission trip to help the devastated people of Thailand
. They are understandably afraid of the water, including a little boy. Bethany decides to go into it with a surfboard, hoping this will coax him into it. It works, and the realization that she can use her gift to inspire people motivates her to take up surfing again.
Tom rigs a handle on her surfboard which she can use to prevent falling off while paddling out to the waves, which is not prohibited by the competition's rules. He also voices the belief that she possesses a great surfer's instinct for sensing when the best waves will form. She enters the regional championship, thanks Malina for treating her as a serious competitor, and performs respectably, though she is still chasing third place.
Suddenly, with only minutes left on the clock, the waves die down and all the surfers can only loiter, waiting for them to start back up. Tom's belief in his daughter's instinct is proven when she is the only one to sense a big wave forming, and she alone paddles out.
When it forms, the others can't get out in time and she catches it just as the horn sounds. If it is in time, she will win, but the judges rule that the time has expired. Malina is the winner, but she has finally gotten over her differences with her, inviting her up on the platform to share first place.
Subsequently, Bethany lets the reporters interview her. One asks her what she would do if given the chance to undo the loss of her arm. She says that she would still lose it because she can embrace more people now than she ever could with both.
and is based on the 2004 biography Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. The book and the film are based on the real-life experience of Bethany Hamilton
, who lost her left arm as a result of a shark attack while she was surfing. She was 13 years old when she was attacked on , 2003. Though she lost her arm, she was motivated to resume surfing and was able to compete in a major surfing competition on , 2004, finishing fifth. Her story of recovering from the attack became widespread, and her family faced multiple media opportunities.
Shortly after the incident and the media attention, the father of Bethany's friends Chantilly and Tiffany, Roy "Dutch" Hofstetter, became the Hamilton family's media manager. Hofstetter in February 2004 envisioned a film based on Bethany's experience, provisionally titled The Bethany Hamilton Story. Bethany published her biographical book Soul Surfer in 2004, and BBC
reported that a film about her life was scheduled to begin filming in January 2005. Production did not begin as anticipated, and Time
reported in July 2006 that production was scheduled for later in the year. Variety
reported that the project at one point had an investment of and the backing of Peter Schlessel, a Sony Pictures executive.
Though production had not begun by the end of 2006, in January 2007 Sean McNamara
was announced to be directing the biographical film. While Hamilton had a series of surfing successes, turning pro in 2007, McNamara and producer David Brookwell sought more material for the film. The book was considered "a straightforward account" that was targeted to Christian readers, so the filmmakers met with the Hamilton family to determine if there were any unpublished conflicts that could be highlighted in the film. They discovered that the incident had strained the family, that family members questioned their Christian faith, and that Bethany Hamilton struggled with her physical appearance and how boys would perceive her. The media attention on the family was described by Brookwell as "a second shark attack" that had made their lives uncomfortably public.
McNamara and Brookwell spent several years raising money for production. The director wrote an adapted screenplay with Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz and Deborah Schwartz. Additional writing was performed by Ron Bass, Jen Smolka and Kara Holden. Before the film entered production, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired distribution rights for North America and most other territories. The production companies Mandalay Vision, Brookwell McNamara Entertainment and Life's a Beach Entertainment collaborated for the production, with Enticing Entertainment and Island Film Group providing financing. In February 2010, McNamara cast numerous actors into roles for Soul Surfer. AnnaSophia Robb
was cast as Bethany Hamilton, and Dennis Quaid
and Helen Hunt
were cast as Bethany's parents. Singer Carrie Underwood
, in her feature film debut, was cast as a church youth leader. Filming began the same month in Hawaii
. Principal photography and second-unit aerial work took place for 40 days; cinematographer John R. Leonetti
shot on 35mm film. During filming, Robb wore a green sleeve on her arm so visual effects could be included later. Though McNamara was editing the film by May 2010, additional filming took place in August 2010 in Tahiti
. During post-production, the VFX company Engine Room worked on 450 arm-removal shots, digitally inserting the upper arm residuum in place of Robb's green sleeve. Ultimately, the film's production budget was .
reported Soul Surfer as one of several faith-based films similar to The Blind Side
being produced in Hollywood; other films included Get Low
, Like Dandelion Dust
, and Jumping the Broom
. In September 2010, the company FilmDistrict was launched, and the company formed a partnership with TriStar Pictures
to release Soul Surfer. FilmDistrict originally committed to release the film at , but when executives saw the final product, they invested in a print and advertising commitment with the goal of releasing Soul Surfer in .
Prior to the film's commercial release, it was screened for religious leaders. A scene in which Dennis Quaid's character reads the Bible in the hospital at his daughter's bedside had the words "Holy Bible" digitally removed from the cover. Bethany Hamilton's father said that David Zelon, an executive at Mandalay Pictures, lobbied to reduce the Soul Surfers Christian elements so the film could appeal more to non-Christian audiences. The Hamilton family objected, and the words "Holy Bible" were restored in the scene in a follow-up screening. Another debatable scene was one in which Carrie Underwood's character, a church youth leader, quotes Christian scripture. While those involved with the film were fine with the verse, they did not want the scene to explicitly indicate that its origin was the Bible. Their stance was challenged, and the scene indicates the verse being from the Bible. The Hollywood Reporter
cited the dust-up as an example of Hollywood learning to appeal to the faith-based community while still attracting secular audiences. The Blind Side, which accomplished both, had grossed in the United States and Canada.
The film was released in in the United States and Canada on , 2011. It grossed over its opening weekend, ranking fourth at the box office. Sony Pictures reported that 80% of the audience was female and that 56% were under 25 years old. According to CinemaScore
, polled moviegoers gave the film a grade of "A+", a "rare" movie to score that high. To date, the film has grossed .
gives the film a score of 46% based on reviews from 99 critics and reports a rating average of 5.4 out of 10. It reported the overall consensus, "There's an amazing true story at the heart of Soul Surfer — and unfortunately, it's drowned by waves of Hollywood cheese." At Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 53 based on 27 reviews.
Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Meilani Hamilton is an American professional surfer. She is known for surviving a shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the injury to ultimately return to professional surfing. She wrote about her experience in the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of...
. At the age of thirteen, Hamilton lost her arm to a shark attack
Shark attack
A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year around 60 shark attacks are reported worldwide, although death is quite unusual. Despite the relative rarity of shark attacks, the fear of sharks is a common phenomenon, having been fueled by the occasional instances of serial attacks,...
. The film details the events surrounding this attack and her struggle during the aftermath. The film is directed by Sean McNamara
Sean McNamara (director)
Sean Patrick Michael McNamara is an American film director, film producer, actor, and screenwriter.McNamara was born in Burbank, California. He is best known for his feature film Soul Surfer and in the preteen film market, having worked with Jessica Alba, Hilary Duff, Shia LaBeouf, Christy...
, who based the screenplay on Hamilton's autobiography of the same name and on the filmmakers' interviews with the family. The title refers to a term coined in the 1960s to denote someone who surfs purely for pleasure
Soul Surfer
Soul Surfer is a term coined in the 1960s, used to describe a surfer who surfs for the sheer pleasure of surfing. Although they may still enter in competitions, winning is not the soul surfer's main motive, since they scorn the commercialization of surfing. The term denotes a spirituality of surfing...
, but the word soul has a double meaning as a reference to Hamilton's Christian faith
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, which helped her recover her surfing career after the attack. AnnaSophia Robb
AnnaSophia Robb
AnnaSophia Robb is an American film and television actress. She gained prominence in 2005 with starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and starred in Bridge to Terabithia , Race to Witch Mountain , and Soul Surfer .-Personal life:Robb was born in Denver,...
stars as Hamilton, and Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
and Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
star as Hamilton's parents.
Plans for a film existed since shortly after the shark attack on Hamilton in 2003 and her subsequent recovery. After several false starts to production, McNamara was attached to direct the film. While the film is based on Hamilton's 2004 biographical book, the director and producer David Brookwell
David Brookwell
David Brookwell is an American television and film producer, writer, and director.Brookwell is the co-founder of Brookwell McNamara Entertainment with longtime partner Sean McNamara...
interviewed the family to learn about unpublished conflicts to include in the film. Filming took place in Hawaii in early 2010, and Robb wore a green sleeve on her arm so visual effects could be added in post-production to create the appearance of a stump. Additional filming took place in Tahiti in August 2010.
FilmDistrict, which was launched in September 2010, formed a partnership with TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
to release Soul Surfer in theaters. The company originally anticipated releasing the film in , but the company was impressed enough with the final product to pursue a release in . The film was released in theaters in the United States and Canada on , 2011.
Plot
In 2003, teenager Bethany HamiltonBethany Hamilton
Bethany Meilani Hamilton is an American professional surfer. She is known for surviving a shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the injury to ultimately return to professional surfing. She wrote about her experience in the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of...
lives in Kauai, Hawaii with her parents Tom and Cheri, and two brothers, Noah and Timmy. All are surfers
Surfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
, but she and her best friend Alana Blanchard
Alana Blanchard
Alana Blanchard is an American professional surfer. At 21 years of age, Blanchard has gained fame as "one of the best female surfers," Alana is a ASP World Tour surfer, based in Kauai, Hawaii...
have grown up with a passion for the sport and enter a competition. Her church youth ministry leader, Sarah Hill, is disappointed when she has to withdraw from a planned missions trip because of the contest.
Bethany and Alana place first and third, respectively, while the second place winner, Malina Birch, proves to be resentful. Bethany invites both girls up on the winner's box with her, but Malina ungraciously refuses. The Rip Curl
Rip Curl
Rip Curl is a major Australian manufacturer and retailer of surfing sportswear The company was founded in 1969 by Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer in Torquay, Victoria, Australia and initially produced surfboards. In 1970, they decided to begin production of wetsuits, with emphasis on transforming...
surfwear company offers to sponsor her and Alana in competition.
The night before Halloween, Alana and Bethany sneak off with some friends to go night surfing. Later, while Tom goes to the hospital for knee surgery, both girls go surfing with Alana's father and brother. As Bethany dangles her left arm in the water, a tiger shark appears out of nowhere and sinks its teeth into it, biting it off near the shoulder.
Alana's father Holt gets Bethany out of the water and puts a tourniquet
Tourniquet
An emergency tourniquet is a tightly tied band applied around a body part sometimes used in an attempt to stop severe traumatic bleeding. Tourniquets are also used during venipuncture and other medical procedures. Severe bleeding means the loss of more than 1,000 ml of blood. This flow of blood...
on her while his son Byron calls 911. An ambulance meets them on the way to the hospital. Just before starting Tom's surgery, Dr. Rovinsky is called to the emergency room to treat Bethany. She has lost her left arm, along with 60% of her blood and he calls her survival a miracle.
Bethany's injury disqualifies her from the Rip Curl photo shoots, but she wishes Alana well. Rip Curl is supportive of her, providing a prosthetic arm. It is cosmetically perfect and has bendable joints, but she angrily rejects it when she learns it will not help her surf. The onslaught of paparazzi also proves to be a great strain on her family and their privacy.
The family, however, bears no ill will towards the Blanchards for taking her out to the place where she was attacked, and Cheri even tells Holt that she is grateful he was there, for his quick thinking and decisive action saved her life.
Bethany perseveres and, after a recuperation period, gets back in the water and learns to surf with one arm, eventually re-entering the competition. She tells her rival Malina not to take it easy on her, and rejects a five-minute head start offered by the judges. She doesn't perform well because she can't stay on the board long enough to go out and catch a competitive wave, and Malina wins. Disheartened, she decides to give up competitive surfing.
She sees the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on television, which places her own problems in perspective. She decides to surprise Sarah by joining the youth group on another mission trip to help the devastated people of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. They are understandably afraid of the water, including a little boy. Bethany decides to go into it with a surfboard, hoping this will coax him into it. It works, and the realization that she can use her gift to inspire people motivates her to take up surfing again.
Tom rigs a handle on her surfboard which she can use to prevent falling off while paddling out to the waves, which is not prohibited by the competition's rules. He also voices the belief that she possesses a great surfer's instinct for sensing when the best waves will form. She enters the regional championship, thanks Malina for treating her as a serious competitor, and performs respectably, though she is still chasing third place.
Suddenly, with only minutes left on the clock, the waves die down and all the surfers can only loiter, waiting for them to start back up. Tom's belief in his daughter's instinct is proven when she is the only one to sense a big wave forming, and she alone paddles out.
When it forms, the others can't get out in time and she catches it just as the horn sounds. If it is in time, she will win, but the judges rule that the time has expired. Malina is the winner, but she has finally gotten over her differences with her, inviting her up on the platform to share first place.
Subsequently, Bethany lets the reporters interview her. One asks her what she would do if given the chance to undo the loss of her arm. She says that she would still lose it because she can embrace more people now than she ever could with both.
Cast
- AnnaSophia RobbAnnaSophia RobbAnnaSophia Robb is an American film and television actress. She gained prominence in 2005 with starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and starred in Bridge to Terabithia , Race to Witch Mountain , and Soul Surfer .-Personal life:Robb was born in Denver,...
as Bethany HamiltonBethany HamiltonBethany Meilani Hamilton is an American professional surfer. She is known for surviving a shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the injury to ultimately return to professional surfing. She wrote about her experience in the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of... - Dennis QuaidDennis QuaidDennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
as Tom Hamilton - Helen HuntHelen HuntHelen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
as Cheri Hamilton - Carrie UnderwoodCarrie UnderwoodCarrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
as Sarah Hill - Lorraine NicholsonLorraine NicholsonLorraine Broussard Nicholson is an American actress.-Personal life:She is the daughter of Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard, and has two older half-siblings: Jennifer Nicholson , Honey Hollman , and one younger brother: Ray Nicholson . She attended Brentwood School in Brentwood, CA...
as Alana BlanchardAlana BlanchardAlana Blanchard is an American professional surfer. At 21 years of age, Blanchard has gained fame as "one of the best female surfers," Alana is a ASP World Tour surfer, based in Kauai, Hawaii... - Ross ThomasRoss Thomas (actor)Ross Schuler Thomas is an American film and television actor who currently has the regular role of Bailey Reese on the teen drama television series Beyond the Break.-Early life:...
as Noah Hamilton - Chris BrochuChris BrochuChris Brochu is an American actor and singer. He is currently known for his acting in Lemonade Mouth and was formerly the lead singer/songwriter for the band, "Fall Into Faith." Brochu was in the movies Soul Surfer, where he played "Timmy", and in Lemonade Mouth, where he played a rude, yet hot...
as Timmy Hamilton - Craig T. NelsonCraig T. NelsonCraig Theodore Nelson is an American actor. He is probably best known for his Emmy-winning roles as Hayden Fox on the TV series Coach, and as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film Poltergeist. He also starred in The Incredibles in 2004 as Mr...
as Dr. Rovinsky - Kevin SorboKevin SorboKevin David Sorbo is an American actor best known for the roles of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.-Early life:...
as Holt Blanchard - Jeremy SumpterJeremy SumpterJeremy Robert Myron Sumpter is an American actor. His prominent roles include the title role in the 2003 live action film Peter Pan and the recurring role of J. D. McCoy in the NBC television series Friday Night Lights...
as Byron Blanchard - Sonya BalmoresSonya BalmoresSonya Balmores is an actress and beauty queen from Kalaheo, Hawaii who has competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant.Balmores won the Miss Hawaii Teen USA title on May 16, 2004 at the Waikiki Sheraton Resort, at the same time Jennifer Fairbank was crowned Miss Hawaii USA 2005. Balmores represented...
as Malina Birch - Branscombe RichmondBranscombe RichmondBranscombe Richmond is an American character actor and stuntman. He is sometimes credited in films as Richmond Branscombe, Ranscombe Richmon, Ranhome Quickman or Branscom Richmond....
as Ben - Cody Gomes as Keoki
- Nadeen Ayman as Jenny
Production
Soul Surfer is directed by Sean McNamaraSean McNamara (director)
Sean Patrick Michael McNamara is an American film director, film producer, actor, and screenwriter.McNamara was born in Burbank, California. He is best known for his feature film Soul Surfer and in the preteen film market, having worked with Jessica Alba, Hilary Duff, Shia LaBeouf, Christy...
and is based on the 2004 biography Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. The book and the film are based on the real-life experience of Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Meilani Hamilton is an American professional surfer. She is known for surviving a shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the injury to ultimately return to professional surfing. She wrote about her experience in the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of...
, who lost her left arm as a result of a shark attack while she was surfing. She was 13 years old when she was attacked on , 2003. Though she lost her arm, she was motivated to resume surfing and was able to compete in a major surfing competition on , 2004, finishing fifth. Her story of recovering from the attack became widespread, and her family faced multiple media opportunities.
Shortly after the incident and the media attention, the father of Bethany's friends Chantilly and Tiffany, Roy "Dutch" Hofstetter, became the Hamilton family's media manager. Hofstetter in February 2004 envisioned a film based on Bethany's experience, provisionally titled The Bethany Hamilton Story. Bethany published her biographical book Soul Surfer in 2004, and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reported that a film about her life was scheduled to begin filming in January 2005. Production did not begin as anticipated, and Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
reported in July 2006 that production was scheduled for later in the year. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that the project at one point had an investment of and the backing of Peter Schlessel, a Sony Pictures executive.
Though production had not begun by the end of 2006, in January 2007 Sean McNamara
Sean McNamara (director)
Sean Patrick Michael McNamara is an American film director, film producer, actor, and screenwriter.McNamara was born in Burbank, California. He is best known for his feature film Soul Surfer and in the preteen film market, having worked with Jessica Alba, Hilary Duff, Shia LaBeouf, Christy...
was announced to be directing the biographical film. While Hamilton had a series of surfing successes, turning pro in 2007, McNamara and producer David Brookwell sought more material for the film. The book was considered "a straightforward account" that was targeted to Christian readers, so the filmmakers met with the Hamilton family to determine if there were any unpublished conflicts that could be highlighted in the film. They discovered that the incident had strained the family, that family members questioned their Christian faith, and that Bethany Hamilton struggled with her physical appearance and how boys would perceive her. The media attention on the family was described by Brookwell as "a second shark attack" that had made their lives uncomfortably public.
McNamara and Brookwell spent several years raising money for production. The director wrote an adapted screenplay with Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz and Deborah Schwartz. Additional writing was performed by Ron Bass, Jen Smolka and Kara Holden. Before the film entered production, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired distribution rights for North America and most other territories. The production companies Mandalay Vision, Brookwell McNamara Entertainment and Life's a Beach Entertainment collaborated for the production, with Enticing Entertainment and Island Film Group providing financing. In February 2010, McNamara cast numerous actors into roles for Soul Surfer. AnnaSophia Robb
AnnaSophia Robb
AnnaSophia Robb is an American film and television actress. She gained prominence in 2005 with starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and starred in Bridge to Terabithia , Race to Witch Mountain , and Soul Surfer .-Personal life:Robb was born in Denver,...
was cast as Bethany Hamilton, and Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
and Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
were cast as Bethany's parents. Singer Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
, in her feature film debut, was cast as a church youth leader. Filming began the same month in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Principal photography and second-unit aerial work took place for 40 days; cinematographer John R. Leonetti
John R. Leonetti
John R. Leonetti A.S.C. is a cinematographer and film director whose career in film began in 1991. He has photographed many big budget features, though the films he has directed are mostly straight to video sequels.- Filmography :...
shot on 35mm film. During filming, Robb wore a green sleeve on her arm so visual effects could be included later. Though McNamara was editing the film by May 2010, additional filming took place in August 2010 in Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
. During post-production, the VFX company Engine Room worked on 450 arm-removal shots, digitally inserting the upper arm residuum in place of Robb's green sleeve. Ultimately, the film's production budget was .
Theatrical release
In July 2010, USA TodayUSA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
reported Soul Surfer as one of several faith-based films similar to The Blind Side
The Blind Side (film)
The Blind Side is a 2009 American semi-biographical drama film. It is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The storyline features Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL...
being produced in Hollywood; other films included Get Low
Get Low (film)
Get Low is a 2009 drama film directed by Aaron Schneider, written by Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell, and starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Gerald McRaney, Bill Cobbs, Lori Beth Edgeman, Andrea Powell, Rebecca Grant, Scott Cooper, and Chandler Riggs...
, Like Dandelion Dust
Like Dandelion Dust
Like Dandelion Dust is a 2009 drama film based on the novel by the same name by Karen Kingsbury. The film won 26 awards at 23 film festivals.- Plot :...
, and Jumping the Broom
Jumping the Broom
Jumping the Broom is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Salim Akil and produced by Tracey E. Edmonds, Elizabeth Hunter, T.D. Jakes, Glendon Palmer, and Curtis Wallace....
. In September 2010, the company FilmDistrict was launched, and the company formed a partnership with TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
to release Soul Surfer. FilmDistrict originally committed to release the film at , but when executives saw the final product, they invested in a print and advertising commitment with the goal of releasing Soul Surfer in .
Prior to the film's commercial release, it was screened for religious leaders. A scene in which Dennis Quaid's character reads the Bible in the hospital at his daughter's bedside had the words "Holy Bible" digitally removed from the cover. Bethany Hamilton's father said that David Zelon, an executive at Mandalay Pictures, lobbied to reduce the Soul Surfers Christian elements so the film could appeal more to non-Christian audiences. The Hamilton family objected, and the words "Holy Bible" were restored in the scene in a follow-up screening. Another debatable scene was one in which Carrie Underwood's character, a church youth leader, quotes Christian scripture. While those involved with the film were fine with the verse, they did not want the scene to explicitly indicate that its origin was the Bible. Their stance was challenged, and the scene indicates the verse being from the Bible. The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
cited the dust-up as an example of Hollywood learning to appeal to the faith-based community while still attracting secular audiences. The Blind Side, which accomplished both, had grossed in the United States and Canada.
The film was released in in the United States and Canada on , 2011. It grossed over its opening weekend, ranking fourth at the box office. Sony Pictures reported that 80% of the audience was female and that 56% were under 25 years old. According to CinemaScore
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.-Background:...
, polled moviegoers gave the film a grade of "A+", a "rare" movie to score that high. To date, the film has grossed .
Critical reception
The film has received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 46% based on reviews from 99 critics and reports a rating average of 5.4 out of 10. It reported the overall consensus, "There's an amazing true story at the heart of Soul Surfer — and unfortunately, it's drowned by waves of Hollywood cheese." At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 53 based on 27 reviews.
Accolades
2011 Teen Choice Awards2011 Teen Choice Awards
The 2011 Teen Choice Awards hosted by Kaley Cuoco aired live on August 7, 2011 at 8/7c on Fox. This was the first time that the ceremonies were aired live since the 2007 show...
- Choice Movie Drama (nominated)
- Choice Movie Drama Actress - AnnaSophia RobbAnnaSophia RobbAnnaSophia Robb is an American film and television actress. She gained prominence in 2005 with starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and starred in Bridge to Terabithia , Race to Witch Mountain , and Soul Surfer .-Personal life:Robb was born in Denver,...
(nominated)