Jonny Weston surfs his way to the lead for MAVERICKS

In February, we reported that Gerard Butler was cast as the lead in the Curtis Hanson-directed surf movie Mavericks, the film about "Jay Moriarty, the teenage big wave rider who successfully rode Mavericks. That is a body of water in Northern California that became popular with daredevil surfers who braved the structure and rocks to ride waves the size of five-story buildings." Deadline reports that Twenty-two year-old Jonny Weston has been offered the coveted role and is currently in talks for the Walden Media film.

The script was penned by Kario Salem and Brandon Hooper, and Hooper is producing with Jim Meenaghan. Butler plays "Rick "Frosty" Hesson, the mentor who trained Moriarty to ride the Mavericks when the surfer was just 16. Though Moriarity survived those impossible waves, he died at 22 in a diving accident. But he remains an inspiration to surfers, who coined the phrase "Live like Jay."

Weston is now filming an indie alongside James Franco and Dev Patel in Cherry, which is being directed by Stephen Elliot. This sounds like a great role for Weston to ride onto the Hollywood scene with. The story sounds pretty cool and inspirational. What are your thoughts on this news?