Fox’s newest series, Rescue HI-Surf, is rooted in a deep and passionate embrace of Hawaii and Hawaiian culture.
The play tells the story of a group of dedicated and heroic lifeguards on the beaches of Oahu’s North Shore. It combines high-octane rescues, spectacular scenery and complex character stories into a delicious package that viewers are sure to fall in love with.
The show is a love letter to Hawaii, and one of its stars, Zoe Cipres, who plays rookie lifeguard Hina Alexander, spoke to her ahead of the show’s premiere. Alexander).
Sipres, who starred in the final season of “Roswell, New Mexico,” is a native of Hawaii and jumped at the chance to star in a new series in her hometown.
We spoke with Cipres ahead of the series’ premiere about joining the show, her role, what viewers can expect, and more.
Cipres is delighted to play Hina, a newcomer looking to find her place in a new role, and she shares her insights into the series in this chat. Enjoy this, TV fanatics!
Can you tell us about Sheena?
Sheena is a new lifeguard. She is the only female novice lifeguard and was born and raised on the North Shore. She comes from a very large family in Hawaii. She was the oldest sibling among many cousins, little sisters, and brothers, and this was her lifelong dream.
All she’s ever wanted to do is become a lifeguard, and for the first time in her life, she’s actually able to achieve that goal. She’s used to putting the needs of her family and everyone she loves first; this is the first time she’s done something for herself and pursued it 100 percent.
What attracted you to the character of Sheena? Is there something about her that particularly interests you?
Well, yeah, because I’m from Hawaii, too, and I just wanted to be a part of a show that’s filmed in Hawaii and about Hawaii. What I like about Hina is her ambition and drive, and I think I share many of the same qualities as her. That’s probably my main thing.
What do you think drives Hina to do what she does? As a rookie lifeguard, what types of challenges and conflicts will she face this season?
What drove her was growing up on the North Shore. This is her home and she wants to protect the beaches where she grew up and protect the people who live in Hawaii. She definitely learned a lot this season.
She had a lot of success in some rescues, but she also screwed up a few times and learned a lot, which she should have done since this was her rookie year. There are also some love interests, which was another fun thing to shoot. I think the main thing that drives her is that she wants to be one of the few female lifeguards on the island where she grew up.
You just teased that a little bit because she’s the only female newcomer and her love interest. I think she’ll bond with Em [Arielle Kebbel] Along the way.
We get to see Hina’s dynamic as she joins the house and the other lifeguards, can you tease her about anything?
Her relationship with Em is special because they are the only two women and she looks up to Em. She is everything she wants to be and hopes to be. I’m lucky because I’ve seen Arielle like this in real life.
Arielle has been an actress for as long as I can remember. I remember being ten years old and watching her perform Aquamarine at my tenth birthday party. She’s someone I grew up watching, respecting, and admiring, so it was really cool to get to work with her.
As far as the guys go, I think Sheena had a hard time finding her feet at first. She really wanted to prove herself, and I think she did it very quickly.
There’s some friendly competition between her and Kainaru and I think we’re going to see a lot of that, but I think it’s healthy and they push each other to be better and they push each other to be the best lifeguards they can be. member.
For you growing up in Hawaii, shooting on location must have been exciting. Did you have any previous surfing or lifeguarding or similar experience before booking this position?
No, I haven’t. I grew up on an island, so I know the ocean. Going into this field, I knew what I was going to face, and I knew it was going to be difficult. I know what the ocean is like, so that definitely helps.
I’ve been surfing a little bit since I was a kid. My dad was a surfer, so I would go out surfing with him sometimes, but I never really found my passion.
Isn’t that your business?
Yeah yeah. No, I don’t have any experience, so that’s why I do need a lot of training.
What was that training like? Because you guys shot a lot of the scenes in the water yourself.
Yes. Training is…a lot. I was the last actor chosen, so I only had about four days of training before we started shooting, while the other actors had about two weeks of training. I keep talking about training but never stop. We continue training. I mean, even at work, we’re training.
We’re always in the water surfing, swimming, doing lifeguard training, running, and just staying active. I tried to stay super active and super healthy throughout the shoot.
We even did a lot of breathing work because we were underwater and we never knew if we were going to get hit and sink for a long time, so that was very important.
It’s a lot of training. I was definitely not fully prepared, but it was the most fun thing I’ve ever had and I’m very, very lucky that we had such an amazing crew and people who were willing to help us.
What did you learn from filming the first season and pushing yourself like you just said? I assume that what you learn can help you understand yourself better.
Oh yes. I tell people all the time that this show made me fall in love with Hawaii all over again since I moved away ten years ago. I would come back in the summer and Christmas, but I forgot. I had forgotten what it was like to be completely immersed in Hawaiian culture and living on this island.
It made me fall in love with my home all over again, which I don’t think a lot of people get to experience often. I never thought I would get a job shooting in Hawaii because there are so few jobs like that.
I consider myself a very active person, but not in this sense. I was there doing things I didn’t think I could do, and I was afraid of the ocean. I have always been afraid of the deep blue sea.
Really, as cheesy as it sounds, I’m overcoming my fear of being thrown in the water, literally just thrown from a boat in the middle of the ocean, so facing a lot of fears. I like it. This is the best job ever.
I’ve covered a few first responder shows, and when you talk to a lot of the actors, they get a deeper understanding of what first responders do. I imagine you have had this experience too, seeing what lifeguards go through every day, especially on dangerous beaches.
It’s crazy because even though I grew up there, I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Of course, it’s a TV show and you think, “Oh, this probably won’t actually happen in real life,” but it does.
We always have lifeguards, real lifeguards, on site to help us with rescues and make sure we’re doing everything right. I would ask them, “Is this really what happens in real life?” And they said, “Yes, it happens all the time.”
Sometimes we see the media portray lifeguards as sexy people running on the beach in slow motion, and some of them are. But they save people’s lives every day, and I didn’t realize it happened so often. They need to be seen as first responders because the work they do is unreal.
You just said we’ve seen lifeguard shows and shows about first responders before, but what do you think makes Rescue: HI-Surf different? What do you think about the show will resonate with audiences?
I think this was the first time we saw Hawaii from this perspective. It’s a little rough. This is a bit complicated. I think a lot of shows that are filmed in Hawaii are beautiful beaches and beautiful people, and rainbows and butterflies and sunshine.
There’s some of that in our show, but there’s also a toughness and a side to it that I think people haven’t seen before. I think that’s what’s unique about our show. It’s a thriller, a romance, a drama and a comedy. It has it all, so I think people are going to enjoy it, as well as seeing these crazy rescues.
Yes, I agree. I’m not sure what to expect. I was like, “Is it going to be more dramatic? Is there going to be anything like this again? It’s a healthy mix of a lot of different types that will keep people interested, I mean, the action is crazy. In some of these rescues , I kept holding my breath.
You’ve already talked about it, but can you shed some light on the season and what we can focus on and what you want viewers to see? You summed it up really well in this interview, it’s like a love letter to Hawaii in a lot of ways, and it’s great that you touched on that.
Thanks.
I’m glad that people are able to focus more on the lifeguards after this and see real, authentic Hawaiian culture that doesn’t get shown very often in the media. This is the thing I’m most excited about and I hope people start to respect their local lifeguards more.
The series will premiere on Fox on Sunday, September 22 at 8/7c. Going forward, you can watch Rescue HI-Surf every Monday at 9/8c on FOX.
