Luke Bracey and Édgar Ramírez on the 'Point Break' Reboot

In 1991, no one could have predicted "Point Break" would become cultural icon. But over the years, the film has spawned an interactive stage show "Point Break Live," been comically parodied in "Hot Fuzz" and been the source of numerous YouTube remakes in the style of famous directors. Even the original "The Fast and the Furious" was accused of ripping off the plot of an agent going undercover with criminals in an extreme sport culture.

"Point Break" is back, now updated for extreme sports enthusiasts: it's not just surfing and skydiving anymore. In the reboot (in theaters on Christmas), FBI Agent Johnny Utah (Aussie actor Luke Bracey), now a former motocross rider, goes undercover to root out a gang of eco-terrorist Robin Hoods led by Bodhi (�dgar Ram�rez) who takes Utah under his wing.

Bodhi and his gang's adventures include tow-in surfing for bigger waves, wingsuit proximity flying, snowboarding mountaintops, and rock climbing the Angel Falls waterfall. Real athletes were hired to perform the stunts in each sequence, so that the most authentic performance was captured for real. Bracey and Ram�rez, as well as the filmmakers led by director Ericson Core, also took care to honor "Point Break" every step of the way.

Original film an inspiration

"Along with �dgar, I am a huge fan of the original," Bracey said. "Growing up on Sydney's golden beaches as a surfer your whole life, in the '90s for me it was a movie me and my friends almost watched on a weekly basis. We'd get up and we'd watch it to go psych ourselves up to go surfing. We'd get 10 minutes in and go, 'I just want to go surfing now.' It just gives you that vibe. The original movie has such an ethos."

The politics of "Point Break" has evolved as well. In the original, surfers wore masks of ex-presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter to rob banks. Now the criminals are fighting against corporations who've damaged the earth, and there is a reference to subsequent presidents we won't spoil.

"The promise of accumulation and being successful financially and accumulating material goods is the promise that Reaganism left us," Ram�rez said. "25 years later, it got broken. Our movie pretty much recreates the broken dream and the broken promise of capitalism and trickle down theories saving us. Not to get too intense and deep into that, I think this movie, the main theme and the main metaphor, and that's something I think Keanu and Patrick really portrayed amazingly and just serves as a great inspiration for us, is that whatever you do in life, do it with passion and do it to the fullest. Whatever you do. You don't have to put on a black wingsuit and try to proximity fly above the earth. You don't have to get on a surfboard and go and try to ride the highest and tallest wave. You just have to commit to what you love in life, whatever that is, and just live it to the fullest with the most extreme passion you can possibly achieve. That's how I see it."

With their "Point Break" credentials established, Bracey shrugged off any perceived pressure of remaking a classic. "I don't think it's a weight at all," Bracey said. "I think it's an inspiration and I think it's something that really colors this film. Talking of what Keanu and Patrick did, for me, I just see it as the heart and soul of it. We're making a different film but with that ethos, with that heart, with that drive, with that ideal that life's about living and that you should go out and get it.

"Rather than hanging over us, I thought it helped us, it inspired us. It gave us the direction we needed to go and from then, for me and �dgar, we could then make our Utah and our Bodhi unique in a way but still have that bare bones and that backbone that the original did, but to go on from there and to make something new and something for 2015/2016 rather than 1991. So I think it helped. Being a fan, for me, the passion involved, I gave this film absolutely everything I've got because I love it so much."

'You're Johnny Utah'

Bracey grew up surfing in Australia, as well as snowboarding and skateboarding. He was happy to turn the big stunts over to the athletes, but that's really him hanging off of Angel Falls in Venezuela.

"For me to hang off Angel Falls, a kilometer above the earth, 3000 feet, that's some stuff that you can't buy on a green screen," Bracey said. "That said, you're all tied in and it's all safe but there's still a part of your brain going, 'What are you doing, mate? What are you doing? Your mother's going to kill you. (That is) If I don't get killed first. Turn the cameras on in case I fall because then at least it's on film.'

For me, the physical aspect of it and really putting ourselves as close as we could to it before the pros took over was a great asset I think to us in terms of really embodying Utah for me and Bodhi for �dgar . Put yourselves in these positions and when you were scared or you were apprehensive, I just went, 'You're Johnny Utah, bro. Get in there.'"

An extreme shoot

Even basic surfing was new for Ram�rez. "Unlike Luke, I didn't grow up surfing or by the ocean," Ram�rez said. "So for me it was a total new and exciting experience to get a taste of what surfing is and the rest of the sports that we were allowed to practice, because definitely there was no way to even get a taste of proximity flight. There's no way unless you're willing to die and that's not the case. One of the things I learned is that there's no wave identical to the next. That happens only once and if you catch that wave and if you ride that wave, it's a moment that will happen only once in your life. You hold onto that memory and that's it. There's no way to repeat that or to recreate that. I think that it happens the same with characters."

"Point Break" was an extreme film for everyone, not just the athletes performing the stunts. The locations were grueling, as even the film crew had to be harnessed in for safety. It's all on film though, so no one can accuse "Point Break" of cutting any corners.

100% committment

"For the makeup and hair department, we all have to be clipped up all the time," Ram�rez said. "We all have to be very careful in following security protocols because we shot on top of Angel Falls. We shot on top of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe. We shot under waterfalls and constant rain where the temperature would be super high, like literally if you were under the sun, the difference in degrees would be 20 degrees [Celsius] from shadow and from sun when we were in Venezuela shooting the beginning of the climb towards the top of Angel Falls. It was like shooting in a shower for everyone. They took all the precautions. We felt very safe but you have to be really on top of your game to shoot this film. Of course we both hung from the highest waterfall in the world. I thought I wasn't afraid of heights until then."

Those extremes paid off in the performances too. Bracey is the first to admit he turned the wingsuiting or snowboarding over to professional athletes, but being on top of the mountains with them made his acting authentic.

"The amazing thing about it is that whenever you see us standing on the edge of a cliff, we're standing on the edge of a cliff," Bracey said. "That helps with your motivation when you're about to wingsuit, proximity fly for the first time. Johnny Utah's about to do that for the first time in the film. Well, that's the first time I stood on the edge of a cliff so that kind of helped. I think the great thing about this movie was that everyone involved was 100% committed and that's what 'Point Break' is all about. For me, that made the scenes easier. It didn't put the weight solely on one person or one thing or one part of the movie. The load was carried by all."

Point Break is in theaters Christmas Day.

Watch the trailer to "Point Break":