Interview: Director Lorcan Finnegan on working with cinematic encyclopedia Nicolas Cage on The Surfer

For Lorcan Finnegan, The Surfer is the kind of film “which isn’t being made any more”. And that’s one of the reasons why he knew it was right up his street as soon as he read Thomas Martin’s script. The icing on the cake was getting the legend that is Nicolas Cage to play the title role in the film, which arrives this week in British and Irish cinemas.

Cage plays an unnamed man who, returning to an Australian beachside community after years away making money in America, finds the locals less than welcoming. Under pressure to close the deal on the house where he grew up, he’s driven off the beach and increasingly terrorised by a group of surfers who mercilessly target him, taking away everything he values and marking him out as an outsider – his immaculate car, his watch and his phone. In the searing heat and under attack from everybody and everything around him, he starts to lose his grip on reality.

MORE: READ OUR REVIEW OF THE SURFER HERE

In this exclusive interview, Finnegan reflects on directing Cage, describing him as an “encyclopedia of cinema” and explaining his detailed approach to acting. He also considers whether what is already an extreme story takes things too far, and his own reaction to the film achieving cult status.

Check out the full interview:

The Surfer opens in British and Irish cinemas on May 9th.

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