In the Australian winter of 2011, veteran surfers Tom Carroll and Ross Clarke-Jones embarked on a four-month quest to ride the largest waves their country had to offer. They found dramatic, dangerous conditions and building-size swells worthy of the camera crew that followed them for the movie "Storm Surfers 3D."

Normally that would make a compelling story all by itself. But Carroll and Clarke-Jones brought something else to the cameras, something unheard of in the world of surf movie bravado: honesty.

Theirs is a buddy story — after 28 years of friendship they joke that they are an old married couple — and it’s easily the most intimate look at surfing you’ll likely see.

Carroll, 51, and Clarke-Jones, 46, have ridden every kind of wave imaginable. Carroll is a two-time world champion.

But as their quest began, with cameras rolling with all manner of cutting-edge 3-D technology and a production crew of 25, the men expressed doubts.

Carroll had injured himself and didn’t want to surf a big day at Shipsterns Bluff, a notorious Tasmanian break. And noting he is father to three daughters, the youngest one age 10, Carroll openly questioned the risk. Clarke-Jones called him "a girl" but then wondered aloud if he will feel the same way in a few years.

When was the last time you heard a big-wave charger wonder whether he should go?

"We’re human, and people are like, these guys are actually worried," Clarke-Jones said as he stood on the sand last week at Sunset Beach with Carroll. "It humanizes it. We’re making fun of ourselves. We’re not young anymore but we’re still enjoying it."

Their realizations fueled a course change during filming that no one expected. Five years earlier his friend would ride anything, Clarke-Jones said, but now they had a film with more power and drama.

Still, make no mistake: Clarke-Jones and Carroll are rock-solid fit. Clarke-Jones has a viselike handshake, and Carroll, despite a graying hairline, pops with muscles. Dangerous conditions notwithstanding, they are still surfers, and that passion comes with a siren’s call they answer often.

"I love surfing every day," Carroll said. "Whenever there is a challenging ocean, I am drawn to it. I always have been, ever since I was a kid, ever since I could ever remember. I love the wild ocean and I love heavy conditions."

But he’s hurt himself many times, Carroll said.

"That has definitely happened to me over the last five years," he said. "A lot of things have happened where I have had to take stock: How long do I want to be able to engage? I want to keep going on doing this. I don’t want to completely fall apart, and I don’t want to be broken apart."

Their film stands out visually, as well. It is the third in a series — "Storm Surfers: Dangerous Banks" (2008) and "Storm Surfers: New Zealand" (2010) — but easily the most ambitious because it was shot in 3-D. The producers and co-directors put cameras everywhere — on surfboards and on the end of a stick that both riders held behind them as they screamed along at nearly 40 mph. There were cameras on their personal watercraft and overhead in helicopters.

The two surfers were the talent, the camera operators and the stuntmen. When Carroll went over the falls, a hand-held camera tethered to his wrist, it nearly killed him, Clarke-Jones said.

"We had so much stuff going on trying to get the different angles," he said. "But that’s what’s going to separate this film from the others. Getting the audience on the board with us and being right there with us. And that’s what I feel like we achieved."

Despite its content, "Storm Surfers" was never shot specifically with the surfer crowd in mind, Clarke-Jones said. When it showed in Australia last year, he and his friend discovered it was a hit with audiences of all ages, most of whom had never surfed, he said.

"This was for a broader audience, to get a nonsurfing community to feel like they’ve gone surfing," Clarke-Jones said. "We had old guys at the end of the film say that they want to go surfing. That was the most rewarding thing."

("Storm Surfers" is playing at Ward Stadium.)

AND that’s a wrap. …

Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.