Helen Hunt of Mad About You and As Good As It Gets fame wrote, directed, and stars in a new film called Ride.

In the film, that also stars Australian actor Brenton Thwaites, Helen Hunt plays a single mom who is completely devoted to her college-aged son. When he drops out of school and moves cross country to surf, she follows along and takes up surfing, too. As she does so, she starts a redo of her own identity.

There was no question in Helen Hunt’s mind that she would portray the mom in Ride. She didn’t believe anyone else would “put up with what I put up with. I was in the ocean for nine hours at a stretch.”

She loves the ocean in real life, too.

Watch @RIDEmovie from the comfort of home this weekend. You can download it on @iTunes now! http://t.co/2PB9Kcd9Bp pic.twitter.com/e3iPr6Xzw5

— Helen Hunt (@HelenHunt) May 8, 2015

“There is nothing that right-sizes you more than that beautiful, big body of water,” she said during a recent interview with the Associated Press.

In addition to Ride, Helen Hunt is writing her third film and plotting her return to TV. She and Paul Reiser starred for seven years in the TV comedy Mad About You.

“I’m developing a show with my partner (Matthew Carnahan) that is wild and weird and I hope we get a chance to make it. I’m smart enough to not have any prejudice about the size of the screen. It’s the part and the writing and the story,” she said.

Ride, starring Helen Hunt and Brendon Thwaites is now in theaters.