page_title: Point Break (2015 film)
section_title: Wingsuit sequence
hierarchical_section_title: Point Break (2015 film) / Production / Filming and stunts / Wingsuit sequence
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Wangs im Morgenlicht mit Blick auf die Churfirsten
context_page_description: Point Break is a 2015 action-thriller film directed and shot by Ericson Core and written by Kurt Wimmer which he co-produced with John Baldecchi, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Christopher Taylor and David Valdes. An American-German-Chinese co-production, the film is a remake of the 1991 film of the same name. The film stars Édgar Ramírez, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Delroy Lindo and Ray Winstone, and was released in China on December 4, 2015 by China Film Group and in the United States on December 25, 2015 by Warner Bros. in 3D and RealD 3D. The film received negative reviews from critics, and grossed $133 million from a $105 million budget.
context_section_description: The wingsuit flying sequence which is notably the most dangerous stunt in the film was filmed in Walenstadt, Switzerland and required five stuntmen (including the cameraman) flying in formation, while all weaved through narrow mountain passes, one of which is called "The Crack", all at a speed of over 145 miles per hour (233 km/h). The production canceled planned flights on a number of days because of poor weather conditions, eventually completing it only after two weeks in August 2014. Core brought in Jeb Corliss, a professional sky diver, to help coordinate the scene and handpick wingsuit athletes to perform the stunt. Corliss and his team picked the best wingsuit pilots in the world, who have all made over 17,000 sky dives and have had 20 years of experience, including one thousand BASE jumps and thousands of wingsuit jumps each, to perform the jump. Corliss himself was going to be one of the fliers, but was not able to be, because he was recovering from a knee surgery after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament prior to the filming, while testing a suit. The five fliers includes two times World Wingsuit League champion and four times Guinness World Records holder Jhonathan Florez (cameraman, who died in July 2015), Red Bull Air Force former manager Jon DeVore (portrayed Utah), who previously worked on the wingsuit sequence for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and served as the aerial coordinator, Mike Swanson (Bodhi), Julian Boulle (Grommet), Noah Bahnson (Roach), and James Boole. DeVore knew that the sequence was going to be difficult to enact, especially in supertight, choreographed formations. Corliss himself was familiar with the place since he made a jump in 2011 from a peak just outside the Swiss town. A video of the jump titled "Grinding the Crack" uploaded to YouTube has been watched over 30 million times. 
  
  However, performing such a sequence proved to be very dangerous. If one person crashes with the other, it could lead to the disproportion of the flight pattern and subsequently could result in death. Due to this, safety became a top priority for Core. Prior to shooting, the stuntmen went to the location, and to other locations which were similar, to start training in groups. In order to get comfortable with the wingtip-to-wingtip flights necessary to pull the scene off, the wingsuiters initially jumped from planes, racking up more than 500 jumps over the course of the year leading up to filming. They would fly in tight formations over and over again, simply as a way of getting accustomed to the idea of having someone nearby at all times. The production team also went to Switzerland 12 days prior to shooting to practice. 
   During the shoot, there were ground-based cameras with long lenses, and a helicopter with a gyro-stabilized camera as well. Since Core needed a series of shots to create the sequence, from point of view shots to profile shots of the wingsuiters cruising past the mountain to close-ups – unlike filming GoPro cameras – one of the wingsuiters needed to wear a cinema-quality camera on his head, rather than a GoPro. The task went to Florez and Boole, who had never done camera work before. The Red camera used in the flights weighed 15 pounds (6,8 kg), enough to significantly alter the way pilots normally flew. The wingsuiters made over 60 jumps in the course of two weeks to get all the shots. Corliss called it the most dangerous stunt that has ever been filmed for a movie.
caption: The jump was made from Hinterrugg Mountain, the highest peak in the Churfirsten range (on the right).
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