Blake Lively, the lead actress in the 2016 survival thriller The Shallows, has been praised for her intense and edge-of-your-seat performance. But there’s been a long-standing question about the film: did Lively actually surf in the movie? The answer is no, but she did put in a lot of effort to learn the basics of surfing and perform her own stunts.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lively revealed that she didn’t start using a professional stunt double until the last two weeks of filming. However, she did her best to master the skills required for the role, even receiving help from a junior world champion surfer, Isabella Nichols. Nichols taught Lively how to paddle, wax her board, and put on a leg rope and fins. Lively acknowledged that she didn’t look quite as natural as she would have liked, but she was determined to make the scenes look convincing.
Lively also shared a gruesome injury she suffered while filming a particularly intense scene. She cracked her face underwater while swimming up to a buoy and started pouring blood. The scene was supposed to be more controlled, but the combination of strong waves and disorienting underwater perspective led to the unexpected injury. Lively described it as a chaotic and disorienting experience, with waves crashing into the water and her perspective off.
Blake Lively (Via Blake Lively/Twitter)
Isabella Nichols, who double-checked for Lively, revealed in an interview with Stab Magazine that she was initially brought in to do all the surfing shots. But eventually, Nichols helped Lively with the basics of surfing, making sure she looked comfortable and natural on the board. Nichols also recalled the most challenging part of filming was wearing a vest to make the location look tropical when it was actually freezing.
Despite not actually surfing herself, Lively’s performance in The Shallows still manages to convincingly portray the world of surfing. With the help of professionals like Isabella Nichols, Lively was able to convincingly portray her character as a surfer, even if she didn’t do the actual surfing herself. The film’s tense and edge-of-your-seat moments make it a fan favorite, and it’s clear that Lively’s dedication to the role helped make it a believable surfing thriller.
