The French producer Franck Marty, along with his partners, chose him to direct a new breed of big wave riding documentary film.

He has said that the primary purpose of making a surfing documentary was that he "wanted to see a film like this", and that he hoped it helped to answer the question "why people choose to devote their entire lives to the pursuit of riding waves.

Some of the surfers interviewed include Jeff Clark, Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Gerry Lopez, Greg Noll, Kelly Slater and Peter Mel.

Includes: Basement Jaxx, David Bowie, Link Wray, Dick Dale, Doves, Fila Brazillia, Bill Haley & His Comets, The Hives, Linkin Park, John Mayall, Moby, Pearl Jam, The Ruts, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Soundgarden, The Stray Cats, Alice in Chains, Érik Satie and The Waterboys.

"[2] Roger Ebert said in his review, "Before seeing Riding Giants, my ideas about surfing were formed by the Gidget movies, Endless Summer, The Beach Boys, Elvis and lots of TV commercials.