Lets Be Frank
Frank Solomon, 32, South African big wave surfer who calls John John Florence one of his best mates, has made a movie with Peter Hamblin.
It’s a surf movie with a whole lot of action. It’s an action movie with some surfing. It’s a biopic of the life of Frank Solomon. It’s a work of total fiction. It’s got some hot chicks in it. It’s a whole lot of things and none of them really seem to fit into a category.
Who is Frank?
Frank is just a kid from Hout Bay, (the home of Dungeons) who grew up in a little village, who never dreamed of becoming a pro surfer let alone having a movie made of him.
How did it come about?
I was with Peter Hamblin, after the premier of The Wright Side Of Wrong, and we were having a few beers. I was telling him about going overseas and working to surf, and he always thought that pro surfers stayed in hotels with super fancy living, and I was like, ‘I work four to five jobs and sleep on peoples couches to go surfing.’ He liked the idea of what he thought was real, and what was actually real, the juxtaposition of reality, and he said, “Hey man we should make a move, and call it Let’s Be Frank.”
I was like, “Yeah dude whatever. See you tomorrow.”
Sure enough, he called me up and said, I really wanna do this.” Three years later and we’re finishing off the movie.
What was the highlight for you in making the movie?
I had to do a couple of sex scenes.
Whooah. Sex scenes? A couple? What sort of a surf movie is this?
Ok maybe not the highlight, but definitely the most embarrassing part. Pete was like, “We’re going to film you sleeping with this girl,” and when it came down to it, there were six or seven people filming, and I was half naked and she was naked. It was super awkward.
Who was the girl?
She was some actress that they found. She was a babe, dude. Pete and the other guys had a casting while I wasn't here and I was like, “No ways! Surely I get to choose the chick I’m going to be hooking up with?”
I tell you what its hard to pretend when you have a beautiful girl on top of you. Haha. Some body parts thought that it was real.
So how much of the movie is like fiction?
It’s based on stories that Pete has recreated, with creative license.
There’s a scene where I run out of money and I have to work. I mean that's happened to me so many times, but in the film I get into a bareknuckle boxing fight in Ireland.
A bareknuckle boxing fight? The fuck?
It was probably the hardest thing I had to do.
Did you get any punches in?
I trained for six weeks. I had two stunt coordinators from the show ‘Vikings’ come over to London and train with me for two weeks, it was a 2 minute shot of me fighting so I had to learn all the moves, I had to learn how to punch, how to fall on the ground.
Did you get fucked up?
I got fucked up. I had to take a real punch, actually.
Lose any teeth?
No, there was just a bit of blood and stuff. It was the same guy who did the fight scenes for The Matrix and Sherlock Holmes, so I was in good hands, and actually enjoyed the experience.
Who else we got in the movie?
John John, Jamie O’Brien, Josh Redman, Dan Redman, Will Skudin. And Ben Harper wrote three of the songs for the film, which was very exciting.
That’s crazy. That man makes good tunes. How did the connection with Harper come along?
So Pete managed funding to get me to London to film a trailer, and it came out pretty amazing. I take my hat off to Pete. He was harassing so many people, relentlessly, to get funding for the movie.
Eventually someone international saw it and then they liked it and it moved into the next gear, then Red Bull got involved and was helping us. Somehow a main player producer had seen a teaser, and she still had the password saved on the computer. Ben Harper was in the office and he was saying that he wanted to do something with surfing or with Red Bull, and she was like “Wooooah.’ I got something!” She showed him the teaser and he was in. He said that it was rad and that he wanted to be involved.
That’s quite a thing.
It was overwhelming. He wrote a song about how he relates to Frank growing up in a little town, and trying to live his dreams, and for me it was like my wildest dreams coming true.
The tunes?
They are insane. Sick slide guitar work. I don't feel like I deserve it all haha. I do hope Ben comes to the premier. He’s pretty good you know? He’s got like three Grammy Awards.
Get any big waves?
The biggest waves we got were in Ireland and at Jaws. It’s not really a surf movie as such. I don't think anyone has seen a surf movie like this. Pete’s vision is like so different.
How long is this thing?
50 minutes.
Back to big waves.
The biggest waves we got were at Mullaghmore. I got a really good wave there last year, and it’s on the film.
Ireland?
I love Ireland. The joint is sick. We’re going back there this year. It’s such a new frontier. I kinda do better there than in Hawaii, when it’s crowded and everyone’s fighting for waves and stuff. I much prefer it when it’s less crowded, when there’s some room to move you know.
Pmpa?
Oh yes, we got a couple of waves at Pmpa, sick wave, and the other waves around there – G Spot, Black Spot, the whole zone. We had some great waves at Bundoran and surfed with the local boys. Drank some good Guinness.
Richie Fitz and crew.
Yes, Richie and Conor Maguire, Dylan, all the boys,
How do you reckon it’s going to feel sitting in the theatre with all your mates and this movie comes on?
I honestly don’t know. I have been trying to visualize that moment, but I just hope that I can control my emotions, after the three-and-a-bit years of this. It's a weird kind of movie with no airs and shit, just a couple of big waves and some stories. Hopefully the surf media appreciate something new and original.
Dude, its a surf movie with a couple of sex scenes, Guinness drinking, big waves and bareknuckle fist-fighting all to the tunes of Ben Harper. That’s thug life.
Main Photo: Frank Solomon biting off a big chunk of ocean at home in South Africa. Photo: Grier Fisher
WRIGHT SIDE OF WRONG TRAILER from Peter Hamblin on Vimeo.
