Three things went through my mind after talking with Bethany Hamilton on the front lawn outside of the Tampa Tribune:
She is irresistibly likeable and has the purest soul (pardon the pun). And she says “like” more than I do when trying to explain something (the lexicon of our generation at its finest).
Bethany Hamilton was cruising around the country, doing a preemptive media strike prior to the release of Soul Surfer – the movie based on her amazing story – which hits theaters on April 8th. The flick covers the time period where the promising young surfer was attacked by a shark off the shores of Hawaii. The publicized tragedy resulted in the loss of her left-arm. Within just a couple months, she was back on the board competing. Her comeback inspired people all over the world. Now, everyone will get to see it. And she assures me that director Sean McNamara delivered a piece that stays true to her story.
This incident happened right at the end of 2003. Rumors of a feature film started circulating just months after. Now we’ve all heard of projects that go through limbo for years, sometimes decades. But one would figure that they would want to strike when this story was fresh in the minds of the entire world. What took so long Bethany?
“You have to find the right people, and people that are passionate to make the film. Finally we met Sean McNamara.”
And then, she met the talented actress who will portray her in AnnaSophia Robb. The young actress immediately flew down to Kauai – Bethany’s home – to start picking up on all of Bethany’s unique personality traits. And to learn how to surf.
“She pretty much came out as soon as she could. She came to Kauai and met me. I gave her some surf lessons with my coach Russell. We just got to know each other and then I went and hung out with her on Oahu, which is where they filmed the movie. We lived together for over a week. She had a bunch a questions about different little things she was curious. We actually become really good friends. She’s a really good actress and I’m happy about the way she portrayed me.”
Bethany is humble girl, and believe it or not, she’s finally just getting used to everyone approaching her and wanting to know about her life. For those who have followed her journey since 2004, people from all walks of life have been looking to her for advice. Certain sequences in the film show exactly what the unexpected heroine went through.
Speaking of the film’s authenticity (naturally the critic in me wanted to know if the filmmakers took any liberties with her story), she is pleased with the recreation of the attack. And she inserts, that she is able to watch it and not get disturbed by the scene.
Within a week after the attack, she wanted to get back to surfing to find out if she can still handle everything that comes with the sport she loves. But if for some reason she had to ground the board, what would she be focusing on in her life? She responded to that query with a question that caught me off-guard, when asking for a clarification…
“With a one-armed life or two-armed life?”
Pretty sure she was just having some innocent fun with me, but since I was able to fire right back, she got a laugh and answered with this…
“I don’t know. I enjoy the study of nutrition. Which I do it anyway, I just love studying about health, I live a very healthy lifestyle. Exercising and eating mostly organic foods. I just think it’s cool cause the body is designed to heal itself and there is such an epidemic of bad health in America, so it’s an exciting a part of my life to learn about that and just keep myself healthy.”
Getting back to the film, the always smiling Bethany lights up even more when talking about doing the stunt work for the flick. Most of the surfing – especially in the tunnel (under the wave) – is all her.
“I’ve seen an earlier cut of the film, and the surfing wasn’t quite up to our par. And that’s something we wanted to show off, especially women’s surfing, just cause its really just exciting to watch and follow I think. And it really wasn’t up to our hopes and standards. So we pitched a trip to Tahiti to get more footage, which is similar to Hawaii, but it just, I don’t know, it is easier to get stuff with all the cameras and it’s not as crowded.”
“The pressure of the first day, I was like ‘Oh my gosh,’ I don’t know, I just had a wave of pressure on me, cause it’s just me and one other girl filming. And all these camera guys. And I started off, and I wasn’t doing that good, but the waves really weren’t that good, but it just kept cleaning up and the session ended up turning out amazing.”
This next question is one I tend to ask people who found their way into the Hollywood industry by accident, for a lack of a better term. It revolves around becoming attached to something after a brief experience with whatever it may be. However, I kind of wished I phrased it differently, since the girl was bitten by a shark. But it is what is my friends…
Have you been bitten by the Hollywood bug?
“I just try to honor God with my life. So I just choose to make good choices and I know a lot of the scenes are not really I want to partake in. But yeah, I live in Kauai and its pretty laid back and mellow. I’m excited for the premiere and stuff, but I try to avoid cement cities.”
Bethany isn’t the only one who made her feature film debut in a matter of speaking. Recording artist Carrie Underwood plays a nice role in the flick and Bethany enjoyed her performance immensely.
Now we get to the portion where yours truly always attempts to break up the monotony of doing repetitive interviews. The girl has been fielding the same questions for years, so we had to switch up a bit and give her something new to yap about.
For instance, she just turned 21, and I wanted a birthday story…
“Oh my gosh, mine are pretty pathetic. I actually had one of the best birthdays, as far as what I would want. I was at home, happy to be home, that’s my favorite place to be. I got to surf my favorite wave in the world and it was good and uncrowned, and I got spoiled with good waves. And then I just had a mellow barbeque with my family and friends, and good dessert.”
And tell us about the dessert (I saw a picture on her blog)
“(She starts laughing), You would think it was a 5 year-old’s birthday cake. What my mom did was she built this chocolate cake (and Bethany is an admitted chocoholic), and it’s a heart on the cake, with legs and ponytails, and was brought out on a surfboard.”
It’s nice to know Bethany has time to be with the people she loves (as I mentioned, you automatically want to root for her) . The girl allows her passions to run wild and it ends up being a full-time job in addition to her demanding schedule of being a pro surfer. She started a non-profit agency with her family called Friends of Bethany. The idea of the place is to reach out to amputees and/or shark attack victims. She’ll give them a call, email, or sometimes meet them in person if she can make it happen.
And the girl gets random questions as evident from her Web Site. To this day, an abundance of people still seek her out asking for advice on personal matters. Guess when you overcome the odds like Bethany did, many assume she has the answers to their own obstacles.
In the end though, Bethany is living her dream of helping people and surfing. She truly enjoys sharing her passions in life – Jesus Christ, Surfing, Health, fitness and just being loving – with others.
“When you have hate in your heart, it really makes a big difference in your life.”
After meeting Bethany Hamilton and seeing her story, the hate she references, really isn’t worth holding onto.
By Joe Belcastro
