Bethany’s Story
Eight years after losing an arm in a shark attack, Bethany Hamilton loves the ocean and surfing as much as ever
By Chad Pata
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been together through it, and it has made it so much easier to just encourage each other. Definitely God has been our stronghold through this all, and I am just so grateful for him.
“Also, I want to encourage people with their body image. Looks aren’t everything, and just be happy with who you are. The inner beauty is what matters most. Lastly, I want to get people excited about surfing. It is such a beautiful sport, and it’s fun to share that.”
Playing the role of young lady whose story is so well known is no easy task. In order to help Robb get into the role, they brought her out to Kaua’i for a couple of weeks to spend time with Hamilton and experience how she interacts with her family and the ocean.
“It was really fun getting to know Anna Sophia. My mom and I suggested her to the movie people to check out, and she actually got the part, so that was cool,” says Hamilton, who remains friends with Robb today. “She came out and my coach and I taught her how to surf, and I think it helped her to get to know me. She did an amazing job, and I am stoked!”
A Coloradoan by birth, Robb is much more familiar with the frozen variety of water than the tumbling sort we have here in the Islands. But once this star of films such as Because of Winn Dixie and Race to Witch Mountain discovered who Hamilton really was she jumped at the prospect of playing her.
“The project was brought to me by my agent, and I knew the story and was really fascinated by it,” says Robb, who is finishing up her junior year in high school. “But before I signed on I had a lot of questions for the director: Is she really this positive? Did she really get back into the water this soon? But then I met Bethany and saw how passionate she was about surfing. She is the strongest person I have ever met.”
They formed a fast friendship, and Robb soon repaid the favor of the surf lessons by taking Hamilton to the Rocky Mountains and teaching her how to snowboard at Breckenridge. Here Hamilton learned the biggest advantage the slopes have over the surf for a star such as herself: anonymity.
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“It was nice to hang out away from the movie stuff, and you are wearing plenty of gear so it is pretty easy to hide,” says Hamilton.
While spending time together may have helped Robb get to know the real Hamilton, proximity to your subject as an artist does have its cost.
“I wanted to portray her as real as possible, plus she’s a friend and I look up to her, so it was more than a little nerve-racking watching it with Bethany and the entire Hamilton family sitting right in front of me (at the premiere),” says Robb, who admits she hates to watch herself on the big screen. “I kept sinking lower and lower into my chair, but she was very happy with it, so I’m happy.”
Beyond pleasing her friend with her portrayal, the biggest challenge facing Robb and the director was capturing the two-armed actress as the one-armed Hamilton. Robb’s left arm was clothed in a green sleeve and she was fit with a prosthetic that was molded from the remainder of Hamilton’s left arm.
“In each shot I had to either have my arm over my head or behind my back so they could capture the shot,” says Robb, whose prosthetic was nicknamed “Stumpy” by Hamilton. “The director would have to keep shooting it from different angles until they could make sure it would look seamless without the arm.”
Despite the obvious physical obstacles to playing the role, Robb’s real concern about playing Hamilton was based more on the inner than the outer.
“The thing I wanted to capture of Bethany was her love of the ocean - everything that is her comes from that love,” says Robb, who also starred in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. “She just needs the ocean. She becomes a different person when she is out there, and in the several weeks I spent in the water, the transformation happened for me as well. I love it out there. I give it my best, but truly I enjoy even just paddling around.”
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