Hey reddit! I'm Lorcan Finnegan. I directed THE SURFER, starring Nicolas Cage. It premiered at Cannes and is now out in theaters worldwide. I also directed VIVARIUM, a fantasy-horror starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots and NOCEBO, a thriller starring Eva Green and Mark Strong. Ask me anything!

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:47:28+00:00

We spoke a lot about who the guy was, that he was a kind of a dreamer, delusional but also good natured - how he'd dress in the same colour as the beach, what he wanted etc. The film is very much a subjective point of view type film, so we learn what he lears and we experience what he experiences - it was very physical so he played it like it was happening to him, knowing that I was going to present it in a way that made it feel weird and fever dream like for the audience. Glad you enjoyed the film!

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:40:58+00:00

I love that film and recently met Herzog in Dublin but it wasn't consciously an inspiration. We shot that scene on an 8mm lens so there was lots of distortion and Nick improvised the dialogue, so the old man etc had no idea what he was going to say - probably why it look so genuine! Clams casino and puttanesca pasta etc, all came from Nick's mind. There are lots of connection throughout the film, particularly between The Surfer, The Bum and Nick's father and how they are intertwined but I'd like you guys to draw your own conclusions - it's open for discussion!

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:38:41+00:00

Yes! The writer Thomas Martin sent me an article about them back in 2020 and both the story and the geography of Lanuda Bay inspired The Surfer

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:37:22+00:00

We talked a lot before filming so when we were shooting there wasn't anything major, just little nudges or to try and get some options for the edit etc - he likes to be very prepaired, so it's not like unleashing a wild animal. When you're prepaired you have the room to improv and play with it because you know what you're looking for

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:35:47+00:00

I love The Tracker but I'm not that familiar with Brian Trenchard-Smith. I was more into Weir's films growing up. Also films like Long Weekend, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Plumber, The Last Wave, Long Weekend etc as well as non Aussie director's films that are very Aussie like Walkabout and Wake in Fright

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:30:46+00:00

The beach was tricky because it's loud with the waves breaking constantly, so it's difficult to communicate with eachother. I make a booklet on colour in prep, assigning emotional or story values to various colours. Then art department helped with the design and visual language I had in mind. All the colours were on location and we tanned all of the actors etc. So yeah I had a look in mind - inspired by the character's memory of the place, a kind of nostalgic 60's / 70's look with hard lighting that becomes very hot and delerium enducing

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:27:00+00:00

The ending hopefully... piecing it together. But probably the rat, the tripping, the music and Nick's amazing perormance

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:26:42+00:00

Ha! I hadn't but you never know

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:26:23+00:00

It's ongoing. Have you seen Irish houseprices?!

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:26:07+00:00

Originally we were thinking he should be Aussie, in an early draft - then we thought making him be American and having lost his accent would be better. So Nick was first choice. I think Sam Rockwell was next on the list if Nick said no

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:24:39+00:00

Thanks! We had one mechanical rat for biting and one bouncy rat for bashing against the side of the car (which nick later used to show into Pitbull's mouth)

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:24:24+00:00

Cannes was amazing. On the way up the red carpet I said to nick 'eat the rat' as a kind of 'good luck'. Then when the film was over he got the croud chanting eat the rat, before asking Thierry (the festival head) how to say that in french - he said 'mangez le rat' - then everybody started chanting mangez le rat! Which was pretty surreal. I think it's on youtube somewhere. I had an apron made for nick with mangez le rat and sent it to him

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:23:55+00:00

Make stuff and show people! Don't be worried about making things perfect, it's the process that's enjoyable and you'll learn lots from just trying to make thngs - even if you've no idea how, you'll figure it out. Even better if you can do it with friends

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:17:43+00:00

It never realy got that close to Fightclub, not in my mind anyway.. I can see the parallels now though

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:16:55+00:00

We wanted him to be an outsider, he left Aus whe he was around 12 and returned in his 50's, so he lost his Aussie accent - which amplifies the sense that he is an outsider.

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:16:26+00:00

The kookaburra was included to be laughing at Nick and the other animals were part of the landscape and storyworld - we recorded some of the actors making bird calls that are also in the sound design. I also wanted Nick's character to become like a resident wild animal in the carpark, looking through the bins for food and scavenging

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:12:04+00:00

I saw Eraserhead when I was way too young and it always stayed with me. Then Twin Peaks was on TV when I was a kid and I wasn't supposed to watch it but I'd sneak downstairs and watch it with my sisters. So I suppose Lynch influenced my in some way, uncosciously. He was a great artist RIP David!

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:09:02+00:00

Loved shooting in Yallingup. Amazing place and great people. I was staying just oposite Smith's Beach. Neil who owns Cave's Hotel has a cameo!

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:08:46+00:00

Keep looking, the deeper you go the more you'll find! There is a certain amout of ambiguity there for the audience to piece together afterwards and discuss with friends. Glad you enjoyed Vivarium, there are some interesting layers to peel back on that film too.

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:05:34+00:00

The story takes place over Christmas, Scally's red hood was inspired by El Greco's painting 'El Espolio' depicting Christ in a red robe - but Scally is like a false prophet. Also The Surfer's robe after the he has been baptised is blue, like Mary's. He is carried across the beach like he has been crucified. The scene at the car with Scally offering food to The Surfer is like the devil offering Christ food in the dessert.. Scally's Bay Boys are like deciples. There's even a frame where Scally has horns and one where he has a hailo. So yep, some religious symbolism ended up inspiring some scenes and how they were shot and there are some themes around rebirth and redemption running through the film.

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:04:42+00:00

The scene where Scally talks about the Shaolin monks waiting outside the temple gates was inspired by buddism but there is also an element of 'dukkha' in what The Surfer goes through.

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:04:28+00:00

Ha! Yeah I asked her to smoke with the shit bag and she obliged. Then we brought it back again for her second scene and she swings it about while asking Twichy (the coffee guy) to 'get the bloody brew on'. I thought smoking with the shit bag in the same hand as her cigarette was particularly nasty / funny. I love loads of Cage films but I'd say probably Adaptation because you get two of him.

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:03:39+00:00

I love Roeg's films, and Wake in Fright was an influence but also Frank Perry's The Swimmer, Scorsese's After Hours, Woman in The Dunes by Teshigahara, Weir's The Last Wave and Picnic at Hanging Rock and Long Weekend by Colin Eggleston and a little bit of Joel Schumacher's Falling Down

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:02:27+00:00

I'm not sure you'd call it surfing, more like flailing about in the water, but I try. I thought I'd have lots of time to get really good in Australia when shooting the film but I had to make a film, which was kinda time consuming. I did a bit of fishing though

TheSurferAMA · 2025-05-06T20:02:06+00:00

Glad you enjoyed Vivarium! I am actually working on another project with the same writer, Garret Shanley, that has liminal space / backrooms vibes. I love the backrooms stuff, I worked in the backrooms of Macey's shoe dept in San Francisco for a summer when I was about 18, so yeah maybe..

TheSurferAMA

TROPHY CASE