<P> Point Break was originally called Johnny Utah when Keanu Reeves was cast in the title role . The studio felt that this title said very little about surfing and by the time Patrick Swayze was cast, the film had been renamed Riders on the Storm after the famous rock song by The Doors . However, Jim Morrison's lyrics had nothing to do with the film and so that title was also rejected . It was not until halfway through filming that Point Break became the film's title because of its relevance to surfing . Reeves and Swayze had appeared together once before, in the 1986 film Youngblood . </P> <P> Reeves liked the name of his character as it reminded him of star athletes like Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana . He described his character as a "total control freak and the ocean beats him up and challenges him . After a while everything becomes a game...He becomes as amoral as any criminal . He loses the difference between right and wrong ." Swayze felt that Bodhi was a lot like him and that they both shared "that wild - man edge ." </P> <P> Two months before filming, Lori Petty, Reeves and Swayze trained with former world class professional surfer Dennis Jarvis on the Hawaiian island of Kauai . Jarvis remembers, "Patrick said he'd been on a board a couple of times, Keanu definitely had not surfed before, and Lori had never been in the ocean in her life ." Shooting the surfing sequences proved to be challenging for both actors with Swayze cracking four of his ribs . For many of the surfing scenes he refused to use a stunt double as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases . He also did the skydiving scenes himself and the film's aerial jump instructor Jim Wallace found that the actor was a natural and took to it right away . The actor ended up making 55 jumps for the film . Swayze actually based aspects of his character after one of his stunt doubles, Darrick Doerner, a top big wave surfer . After learning to surf for the film, Reeves took a liking to it and took it up as a hobby . </P> <P> Parts of the film were shot at Lake Powell in Utah as well as Ecola State Park and Wheeler, Oregon, and Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Venice, and Fox Hills Mall in California . Although the final scene of the film is set at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia, the scene was not filmed there . Bells Beach is a straight stretch and the beach in the film is a cove with spruce trees atop a hill . The actual location of the film was a beach called Indian Beach, in Ecola State Park, located in Cannon Beach, Oregon, USA . </P>

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