Patrick Swayze's Daredevil Tendencies Got Him In Trouble While Filming Point Break
Movie producers usually take out cast insurance on their stars to protect themselves and the production against potential costs, should an accident or some other unfortunate event prevent the actors from filming. Though Tom Cruise has developed a reputation for doing his own death-defying stunts — to the point where he'll even casually stand on a flying plane for a simple promo — he's the exception to the rule. Producers and studios generally don't want stars on the outside of planes, even when their role calls for it, as was the case on "Point Break."
The original "Point Break," starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves, involves a fair amount of thrill-seeking behavior, such as surfing and, yes, skydiving. Reeves plays Johnny Utah, a quarterback-turned-FBI-agent with a bad knee who infiltrates a group of mask-wearing bank robbers, the Ex-Presidents, led by Swayze's mononymous Bodhi. (That is short for "Bodhisattva," the Buddhist term for an enlightened person who could achieve nirvana but puts it off to help others.)
It seems Swayze took up his character's penchant for jumping out of planes, much to the chagrin of those overseeing the production of "Point Break." In an April 2023 episode of the YouTube series "The Art of Action," hosted by Scott Adkins, Reeves recalled how his co-star started doing the action-movie equivalent of method acting and living out his role offscreen until he received a cease-and-desist letter:
"Patrick, during the course of 'Point Break,' started to skydive, and he started to bring everyone in the tribe — his tribe from the movie — skydiving. So they're all like not working, they're jumping out of airplanes. And eventually, production gave Patrick Swayze a cease-and-desist. Because he kept jumping out of airplanes, and they're like, 'No, we're making a movie, you can't just go jump out of airplanes.'"
'He did all those flips in the sky'
When Patrick Swayze died of cancer in 2009, Keanu Reeves spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his time with the late actor on "Point Break," estimating that Swayze "had over 30 jumps during the course of filming" and that he listened to the cease-and-desist "until they got to Hawaii." Reeves further explained to Scott Adkins on "The Art of Action" that "Point Break" director Kathryn Bigelow still managed to get some shots of Swayze doing some real sky-diving.
"When filming was completed," Reeves said, "Kathryn Bigelow got Patrick and a cameraman, they went up in a plane, and then, once 'production was over,' then they had Patrick jump out of an airplane, and so he did all those flips in the sky."
These shots were then integrated into the film, where you can clearly see Swayze's face as he somersaults through the air. Since Johnny Utah jumps out of a plane with no parachute, clever editing helped pull off Reeves' own skydiving scene for "Point Break." It should be said, also, that Swayze, like Johnny, was an ex-quarterback, not to mention an accomplished ballet dancer and martial artist who was used to doing his own stunts on film. Only a single motorcycle stunt was too dangerous for him to film two years prior in "Road House," for instance.
The moral of the story, for "Jackass" fans and YouTubers, is maybe: don't try this at home unless you have a death wish and the athletic prowess of Patrick Swayze. As for "Point Break," its influence continues to be felt, not only in the 2015 remake it spawned but in the over-the-top stunts of the "Fast & Furious" film series, which started out as "Point Break" with Toyotas instead of surfboards.