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SINGAPORE : As the man who wrote the script for the 1991 surfing-themed crime caper Point Break, considered by movie fans as a pop culture classic, you might expect Peter Iliff to shun any notion of tinkering with its legacy.
But the 49-year-old is in the process of writing and directing a sequel, tentatively titled Point Break 2, and he's looking into the possibility of shooting it here in Singapore sometime before the end of the year.
"There was some worry that re-visiting the characters I wrote back in 1987 would infuriate fans of the original chapter," confessed the gregarious Los Angeles-based screenwriter on Friday. He was in town to source for locations.
"I would like to return to Point Break because it represents my career coming full circle. The original was the first movie I ever wrote, the sequel would be my first ever directorial effort."
The 1991 movie stars Keanu Reeves as law enforcement agent John Utah who searches for a group of bank robbers led by the enigmatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), in California's surfing community. It was a worldwide box-office smash grossing US$105 million ($160 million).
Iliff's sequel, to be produced by Singapore-based company RGM Films at a cost of US$30 million and scheduled for release at the end of next year, will pick up Bodhi's trail as he camps out in South-east Asia on the run from the authorities. The surfing action will take place in Indonesia. Singapore and Thailand are possible backdrops.
Illiff claimed some of the original stars have been contacted and there are plans to cast Asian actors in the main roles.
Point Break was the first script he sold, and it was to director Ridley Scott in 1987, while he was waiting tables as a struggling writer in Los Angeles. But it was not until it caught director James Cameron's notice in 1988 that things started moving.
"I was pitching my story to Cameron as we went surfing at Los Angeles' Venice Beach," Iliff recalled. "We sealed the deal over a couple of fish tacos as I remember, and Cameron later introduced me to his then wife Kathryn Bigelow who eventually directed the film."
For the sequel, chief executive officer of RGM Films, Devesh Chetty, 38, hopes shooting in the region will lend a distinct feel. - TODAY/ra
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