Keanu Reeves in ‘Point Break.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
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A TV series based on 1991’s ‘Point Break’ is in development.
AMC Network is backing the project.
David Kalstein will run the show.
1991 action thriller ‘Point Break’ has been through the remake wringer once before (see more on that lower down the page), but according to Deadline, cable channel AMC has decided to try again, this time developing the concept as a TV series.
David Kalstein, who recently worked on Prime Video series ‘Butterfly’ (which starred Daniel Dae Kim as an intelligence agent working in Korea), will be overseeing the eventual show.
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It’s hardly the first time AMC has looked to convert a 1990s movie into a series –– it has seen success with Anne Rice adaptation ‘Interview with the Vampire,’ which has spawned a small-screen franchise based on the author’s work.
(L to R): Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in ‘Point Break.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The original movie, which was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by W. Peter Iliff, starred Keanu Reeves as rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah, who infiltrates the Ex-Presidents, a gang of Southern California surfers who rob banks.
The Ex-Presidents, who wear masks of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon B. Johnson, are led by Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi, and Utah gets swept up in their daredevil lifestyle before a massive action chase and a reunion amid lethal waves.
A bigger question is how the concept can be stretched in order to fit the TV format; though Deadline’s story does at least offer some details: the series is set 35 years after the events of the original film and is focused on a dangerous heist crew with ties to the Ex-Presidents gang.
And converting movies to TV series has been a hit and miss prospect of late, with the likes of ‘Lethal Weapon’ failing to spark.
When will the new ‘Point Break’ TV series be on screens?
It’s clearly early days for this one, so AMC Networks has yet to announce when the show might be hitting our screens. We’re not sure we expect it much before 2027, though.
(L to R): Patrick Swayze, James Le Gros, Bojesse Christopher and John Philbin in ‘Point Break.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
(L to R) Phillipa Soo as Emma and Simu Liu as Sam in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Is it possible to have two true loves? Find out on April 7th as ‘One True Loves’ opens in theaters. Directed by Andy Fickman, the movie is adapted from the romance novel of the same name.
What is the plot of ‘One True Loves?’
The story of ‘One True Loves’ follows Emma Blair (Phillipa Soo), who is living her perfect life, married to her high school sweetheart Jesse (Luke Bracey), and is working as a travel writer. On their one year wedding anniversary, Jesse leaves for a work trip and disappears following a helicopter crash. Heartbroken, she moves back home to be closer to her family. Years later, she finds love again and is engaged to her best friend, Sam (Simu Liu). Unexpectedly, she gets a call from Jesse who has been found. Now Emma has the difficult decision to decide who her true love is.
The rom-com is based on NY Times Best Selling author Taylor Jenkins Reid’s work, who also wrote the screenplay along with her husband. This helped the screen adaptation stay true to the book with little deviance. Phillipa Soo’s performance as Emma is so natural and relatable that you can’t help but fall in love with her and cry with her through her heartbreaks. The comedic moments were great to break up the more tense scenes but felt like it fell on Simu Liu’s shoulders to deliver most of those moments rather than having it more evenly distributed amongst the cast.
(L to R) Phillipa Soo as Emma and Simu Liu as Sam in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Changes From The Book
With any book-to-screen adaptation, it’s natural to want to compare how much was changed from the source material. One of the biggest changes that book readers will notice from watching the trailer is Emma’s hair. In the book, Emma is known to rock a blonde pixie cut. The Emma in the film has long brown hair. Having read the book, one can understand the importance of that hairstyle. Though book fans might be disappointed to not see Emma in her signature pixie cut, rest assured that the core emotion of the story still carries out authentically.
Another small change from the book is Emma’s best friend, Olive, who is not in the movie. In the film, Sam assumes the role of being Emma’s best friend, giving them a basis for their history and connection. While I missed Olive’s quippy remarks, the change was not noticeable in the film.
Something that was a bit more jarring was the time jumps. The book jumps backward and forwards to tell the events of how Emma met Sam and Jesse, when the helicopter crashed, and when Emma finds out that Jesse has been rescued. While the time jump works well in the book, this structure did not translate well in the film. Those who may not have read the book before going into the film might find this a bit jarring and sudden, and at times, a bit excessive.
(L to R) Lauren Tom as Ashley, Michael O’Keefe as Colin, Phillipa Soo as Emma and Simu Liu as Sam in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Cast Performance And Chemistry
As with any story with a complicated love triangle, the audience (and readers) will often choose a side to root for. While reading the book, it was hard to side with Sam or Jesse because while completely different, they both truly love Emma. Simu Liu and Luke Bracey’s performances as Sam and Jesse did not make it any easier to choose a side. It was great to see passages pull directly from the book and watch it play out on screen.
Simu Liu who plays Sam, is Emma’s fiance and a music teacher. We finally get to see Liu in a romantic lead role though it isn’t hard to picture given the actor’s charismatic nature. His chemistry with Phillipa Soo is very natural, and comforting to watch on screen. Being a music teacher in the film also allowed Liu to lean into his musicality. In fact, an original song entitled ‘Don’t’, written and performed by Liu plays during the end credit.
Luke Bracey is no stranger to romantic comedies, having starred in films like ‘Maybe I Do’ and ‘Holidate’. His character Jesse is fun-loving and adventurous. However, having gone through the traumatic events of surviving a helicopter crash and being lost at sea, Bracey’s performance was darker and emotionally raw.
The cast also includes Michaela Conlin as Emma’s sister Marie and Tom Everett Scott as Emma’s brother-in-law Michael. Marie has a huge part in helping Emma come out of her depression, and the back-and-forth between Phillipa Soo and Michaela was fun to watch. However, the movie did not give more time to dive into the relationship of the sisters, and at times it felt like Marie’s purpose was to only serve as Emma’s cheerleader rather than having more impact.
Phillipa Soo as Emma in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Final Thoughts
It is not always easy to satisfy fans of the original material with book-to-screen adaptations, but ‘One True Loves’ makes it happen, despite the small changes. With Taylor Jenkins Reid penning the screenplay, she was able to convey the essential parts of the story with all the highs and lows one feels while reading the book.
‘One True Loves’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
(L to R) Phillipa Soo as Emma and Luke Bracey as Jesse in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release.
‘One True Loves’ is produced by Volition Media Partners, Gosdom Entertainment, Studio507, Blue Rider Pictures, Thomasville Pictures, SquareOne Productions, Oops Doughnuts Productions, Storybook Entertainment, El Ride Productions, I Think Productions, and Streamline Global, and will be in theaters on April 7, on digital April 14, and On-Demand on April 28.
Directed by Andy Fickman (‘Heathers: The Musical’), ‘One True Loves’ is based on a novel of the same name, written by NY Times bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid (‘Daisy Jones and the Six’). The author also penned the screenplay with her husband and both serve as executive producers on the film. The movie focuses on Emma (Phillipa Soo), who is living the perfect life with her husband Jesse (Luke Bracey) until he disappeared in a tragic helicopter crash. Four years later, Emma has found love again with her best friend Sam (Simu Liu) and is about to be married when Jesse resurfaces, throwing all three into a complicated love triangle.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Simu Liu about his work on ‘One True Loves,’ playing the romantic lead in a rom-com, working with Phillipa Soo and singing ‘Hamilton’ songs on set, recording and performing an original song for the movie soundtrack, and his excitement to return for ‘Shang-Chi 2.’
(L to R) Phillipa Soo as Emma and Simu Liu as Sam in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Moviefone: To begin with, this, as you know, is a book-to-screen adaptation. So for a project like this, when you approach it, do you go ahead and read the book ahead of time or do you let the script dictate your instincts?
Simu Liu: Yeah, I think in this case, when Sarah (Halley Finn) brought the project to me, I kind of right away ordered the book just because as an actor, I mean, you really just want any help you can to try to get into the world that you’re about to step into. And then I was kind of encouraged to not necessarily favor the script, but I was encouraged to not get too deep into the book because it’s still, at the end of the day, an adaptation, and a book takes a lot longer to read than a two-hour movie. And so I really wanted to treat the script as much of the Bible as possible. That didn’t mean that I didn’t go through the book and mark down passages that I thought were extremely relevant because Taylor Jenkins Reid is just such a gifted writer, and there are passages that I would highlight and I would say, “oh my goodness, this is just an amazing piece of writing” and it helps me get into some sort of a headspace of where Sam would be at. So that definitely happened, but I also wanted the script to be its own star, and I wanted the words on the script, which were also written by Taylor (Jenkins Reid) to reign supreme. And so that was kind of the song and dance around that. But all of that to say, I mean, I can’t say enough just how incredible of an opportunity it was to get to work with Taylor because she crafted the script as well as the book. We really got to sit down with her and get really granular with scenes, with character. And I’ll just kind of go out and say it. I’m obsessed with ‘Daisy Jones and The Six’. I just think she’s such an amazing storyteller, so I really relished the opportunity to do that with her.
MF: In the film, Emma is faced with a very difficult decision. She has to choose between the man she married and the one she’s engaged to, and she’s in love with both. Do you think it’s possible to have two true loves at once in real life?
SL: Yeah, I mean, the core kind of conceit of the movie is that it is possible to have two true loves or multiple true loves over the course of one’s life, because who you are as an individual is constantly shifting. And just because you are a right for one person at a specific moment in time or right to be with one person at a specific moment in time doesn’t mean that there’s a chance that these two people will eventually grow into people who are not meant to be together. So I don’t know if I agree with the notion that at one time there can be two true loves, but I think that’s the struggle that Emma has. She’s reconciling somebody who she feels is right for her now, versus someone who she was sure was right for her 10 years ago. And yeah, that’s, I think, what makes this story so engaging and so spicy is because I think we’ve all in some way, shape, or form, felt that call to an early love, that call of like, “oh, but if we were meant to be back then, what if we’re still meant to be? What if it was always meant to be all along?” And what I really love about this book and about what Taylor did was she kind of throws cold water on that notion and is like, no, give yourself some credit for the person that you became and know that that person needs very different things than, that younger version of you. And if somebody sees you in your present for all that you are, then that’s worth something.
Phillipa Soo as Emma in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
MF: Can you talk a little bit about working with Phillipa Soo?
SL: Yes. I mean, I was such a big fan of her going into the project, and she was a big part of why I signed on to do this movie. I really, really wanted an opportunity to work with her, also potentially an opportunity to sing ‘Hamilton’ to her, which she was very gracious about because I really enjoyed doing it on set. And she was very patient with me, I’ll say that. No, she’s just such an amazing, professional, collaborative human, and some of my favorite memories of this shoot were just kind of sitting down with her and crafting what we wanted this Sam and Emma relationship to be. And I think we both agreed that we wanted this relationship more than anything else to feel safe because that was, I think, all along that that is Sam’s number one priority. Knowing everything that Emma has been through, knowing the trauma that she faces and that she deals with every single day, Sam has made the choice that he needs to provide a safe environment and he needs to succeed in order for Emma to be in a place where she’s willing to marry him at the beginning of the story. So I love talking to her about that. Love sharing our individual thoughts on relationships and loved working with her, just such a constant professional.
MF: Speaking of singing ‘Hamilton,’ you wrote and performed the song ‘Don’t’ for this movie. So talk about how that came about and the recording process.
SL: Yeah, so ‘Don’t’. My God, it’s so crazy that you know that. I guess it’s on the talking points, I didn’t know how much of an easter egg it would be.
(L to R) Phillipa Soo as Emma and Simu Liu as Sam in the romance/drama/comedy film, ‘One True Loves,’ a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
MF: I heard it during the end credit and my ears picked it up, and I was like, “That’s Simu.”
SL: Oh my God, that’s incredible. Yeah, so my musical journey kind of started with the ‘Shang-Chi (and the Legend of the Ten Rings)’ soundtrack, actually. I was working with 88rising to promote it and kind of offhandedly, because I do this sometimes, I jokingly say things that I actually want. For example, in 2018 when I was like, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if I was a superhero?” And I’m too afraid to actually earnestly ask for it, but I kind of jokingly was like, “Hey, let me know. I’ve always wanted to be a musician, so let me know if I can hop on a song or something.” And Sean Miyashiro who runs 88rising, the label that we were working with was like, “Actually, why don’t you come into the studio tomorrow?” And “we got the song that we were kind of working through and we would love for you to try it.” And I was like, “Okay, sure.” And that song ended up being ‘Hot Soup’, which, not that I check every day, but has been streamed on Spotify over 3 million times, and that’s a respectable number. I was just really blown away by that opportunity and kind of casually asked again after, “Hey, would you guys be interested in doing something a little bit more long-form with me?” And that was about a year and a bit ago. And before I knew it, I was being paired with producers, and songwriters, I was getting in studios and recording songs. And so ‘Don’t’ was one of the songs that came out of that. And now it is, for whatever reason, because I shared it with Andy (Fickman), just kind of on a night out, is now about to be a part of this movie soundtrack, which is just crazy.
MF: Finally, you’ve got a lot of work coming up, including ‘Shang-Chi 2,’ which you just talked about a little bit. Having gone through all the rigorous training and the filming for the first one, how are you approaching ‘Shang-Chi 2?’
SL: I am approaching ‘Shang-Chi 2’ with a feeling of just kind of unadulterated excitement. I think there’s no sense of the pressure to perform as we had maybe the last time around. I think now we’re dealing with a character that people know for in some way, shape, or form. And so there’s going to be a lot of joy to returning into that world and bringing the audience back into that world as well. But at the same time, showing them hopefully new facets of Shaun’s character, but also showing some really, really awesome action sequences that were celebrated the last time around. So yeah, just really, really excited, feeling a lot more grounded and confident now that the first one is out and was celebrated in the way that it was, and just impatient to get back into it.
‘One True Loves’ is produced by Volition Media Partners, Gosdom Entertainment, Studio507, Blue Rider Pictures, Thomasville Pictures, SquareOne Productions, Oops Doughnuts Productions, Storybook Entertainment, El Ride Productions, I Think Productions, and Streamline Global, and will be in theaters on April 7, on digital April 14, and On-Demand on April 28.
To watch our exclusive interviews with Phillipa Soo and Luke Bracey about ‘One True Loves,’ please click on the video player below.
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