Curtis Hanson to Direct Surfing Biopic JAY MORIARTY; Sean Penn May Play Title Character’s Mentor

After 2007′s poker-movie flop Lucky You, director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) is getting back in the game with a biopic about surfing legend Jay Moriarty with possibly Sean Penn attached to play Moriarty’s mentor, Rick “Frosty” Hesson. Via Production Weekly’s Twitter feed, the story will be “based on the true adventures of the surfing wonderboy.”  His bio on Surfline.com says Moriarty was a laid-back, happy-go-lucky guy.  There’s nothing negative about him in there and that may be due to the fact that he died the day before his 23^rd birthday.  So rather than a rise-fall-redemption story, this will probably be an overcoming-the-odds kind of tale.

The problem with most surfing movies is that it’s difficult to capture the exhilaration of the sport on film.   Perhaps Hanson will have more success than others.