Tim Ryan’s Reel Hawaii

Kala mai iau if Reel Hawaii has gotten anyone in some pilikia.

It seems that a few mainland production execs who are bringing in two huge productions to shoot on Kauai and the Big Island this summer believe that by mentioning names of local crewmembers in Reel Hawaii means these people provided us with the information. Not true…Once in awhile Reel Hawaii likes to give locals a bit of publicity since stars like Ben Stiller and Harrison Ford always get it. It might be simpler just to print the entire crew list for Tropic Thunder (Kauai) and Indiana Jones IV (Big Island) rather than a few at a time. Any thoughts? Please call Reel Hawaii at 808-373-8809. Like the T-shirt says: “It’s Just a Movie!”

A recent SAG casting call by Big Island Casting’s Laura Bollinger (whom Reel Hawaii has never talked to) sought Eastern European military-looking males for an action sequence to be shot in Hilo in mid Julyâ for Indy. It makes sense since one of the opening scenes reportedly has a fight between Indy and Russian soldiers. The first official photo of the new Indiana Jones Harrison Ford, of course is out. Check it out at http://www.indianajones1.com/pictures_pics/indiana_jones_4_iv.jpg.

Latest Indy cast member is Jim Broadbent (Time Bandits, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, and The Wardrobe)

On Kauai, DreamWorks’s Tropic Thunder is bringing a lot of kala to the Garden Isle since just the filming will be as long as four months not counting pre production and post-production clean up. Tropics‘ overall budget is reportedly $100 million…Second unit aerial photography will be July 10, 11 and 12. Principal photography begins Friday, July 13, but without actors. The full production with major actors begins Monday, July 16. A pre-filming party for principal cast and executives will be Saturday, July 14 in Kapaa.

According to the The Garden Island newspaper “hundreds” of Kauai residents have already been selected as extras and more are needed in a variety of roles and ethnic backgrounds. Roles yet to be cast are Vietnamese villagers and soldiers, U.S. military personnel and other “unique” characters. Extras casting exec DeeDee Rickets also is looking for a Vietnamese boy between two and four years old for a feature role. The production also wants athletic people who can do stunts and females who can dance. For more information about casting, call the casting hotline at (808) 823-1909.

On Oahu, Rigel Entertainment’s North Shore Films has begun three weeks of filming the low-budget 90-minute creature feature Tyrannosaurus Azteca at Kualoa Ranch and other jungle locations. Director is Brian Trenchard-Smith who also helmed Tides of War (2005 release) also filmed on Oahu. Stars include Jack McGee (co-star in the hit TV series Rescue Me); Dichen Lachman, Mario Sanchez and Kalani Queypo. The production company just finished on Oahu another three-week filming of horror flick Heat Stroke directed by Andrew Prowse and starring D.B Sweeney, Chris Cleveland and Kelly Rice. Look for a 2008 theatrical release for both films.

As previously reported in Reel Hawaii, Owen Wilson now has officially joined the cast of Tropic Thunder in which Ben Stiller will star and direct. The Kauai-based film will also include new hire Nick Nolte. Tropic Thunder begins filming on Kauai July 16. The film’s second casting call is today, Tuesday, June 19, at the ResortQuest Kauai Beach at Makaiwa where the production is based. The third casting session is Saturday, June 23. As many as 400 Kauai residents may be hired to work Tropic Thunder.

Meanwhile, the Indiana Jones IV sequel, which will film for three weeks in August on the Big Island, has begun filming in the town of Deming, New Mexico, part of which has been turned into Morocco during World War II. Filming along the Big Island’s Hamakua coast follows the New Mexico shoot. The production is based in Hilo… Turtle Bay Resort execs are “ecstatic” that Forgetting Sarah Marshall filmed at their hotel, which received more revenue from the production than from any previous shoot there.

Major kudos to Maui Film Commissioner Benita Brazier for creating, organizing, and funding the “Conversations With,” a series of six 45-minute panels over two days at the Maui Film Festival. The panels featured eight veteran Hollywood filmmakers, including composers, special effects, location managers, studio VP, producers, and directors. The event, which was held at the Wailea Marriott Resort & Spa on Maui, attracted overflow crowds. There are far too many highlights to detail, but actor/director extraordinaire Betty Thomas was star of the show with her playfulness, honesty, and interaction with a delighted Maui audience. The filmmakers presented honest, hard-hitting advice to the production hopefuls. Brazier plans to hold another event at next year’s Maui Film Festival but different in format. Many long-time MFF attendees called “Conversations” the best gathering of filmmakers in the event’s eight year history.

Can’t say too much now, but look for a major extreme sports television series to begin filming on Maui in January starring perhaps the island’s most well-known watermen. A mainland producer with two decades of experience in outdoor television production is looking for investors and/or partners for the project which will feature fishing, sailing, surfing, diving and extreme sports in Hawaii. Distribution will be handled through the Outdoor Channel, Versus, Men’s Channel and or the Sportsman’s Channel as well cable and broadcast affiliates from the mainland.

Congrats to Kauai-raised producer Paul Booth (Blood of the Samurai, creator of the Hawaii Student Film Festival, and Ninja EX on OC16) for finishing his indie short film Empty Streets starring some Hawaii actors. The story is based on the life of a Hawaii resident about his experiences after returning from a tour of duty in the Middle East. Booth hopes to have his film in this year’s Hawaii International Film Festival. The film was shot in Lodi, Modesto and Sacramento, Calif. Check out his blog www.emptystreetsmovie.blogspot.com.

After several years of research and planning for a film on the tragic life of Princess Kaiulani, shooting begins on Oahu for about six weeks this fall starring former Hawaii resident and actor Q’Orianka Kilcher who portrayed Pocahontas in the The New World, starring Colin Farrell. The $9-million independent film The Untitled Princess Kaiulani Story by writer/director Marc Forby is a co-production funded by Hawaii and England production companies. The co-star portraying a young Kaiulani is 12-year-old part-Hawaiian actor Kaimana Paaluhi in her first role. The production auditioned about 60 actors for the adult Kaiulani role before deciding on Kilcher, who auditioned in Los Angeles in February. Kilcher, now 17, is part Huachipaeri and Quechua Indian on her father’s Peruvian side, and born in Germany to a Swiss mother. She lived in Hawaii until she was 10 years old. Kilcher in a recent magazine interview said she believes she was cast as Kaiulani as much for her activism as her acting.

“They wanted somebody Hawaiian to play the role, but they presented my name to some really big people in Hawaii and they actually heard about my activism and said that there really is no other person that they would want to play the role,” she said in the interview. (Stay tuned for a longer story next week) .

Ben Stiller wanted 90 days worth of time-lapse still photography of the Vietnamese village being built in the bamboo jungle west of Lihue, Kauai for his film Tropic Thunder and that’s what he’s getting thanks to Bill Paris and his Crew Hawaii production house, Kauai sources said. Paris and company this week set up two Pentax digital 35mm SLR cameras in waterproof housings atop 25-foot poles and inside small roofed structures for additional rain protection. The cameras, which are powered by solar panels, use four gigabyte cards, shoot one frame every six minutes for 12 hours or 120 images a day. The edited images will be used in behind-the-scenes footage for the DreamsWorks/Paramount Tropic Thunder HD DVD Tropic Thunder begins filming July 16.

The Big Island’s Untitled Genre Project production is being described by some crew as far more “secretive” than Lost. Executives are requiring everyone to sign confidentiality agreements. That may be a small price to pay for a month’s work and three weeks of filming and a crew likely around 500 because of all the special effects. The budget reportedly is $125 million. The first teaser trailer with the real title attached will hit theaters around Thanksgiving. The production is based at the Hilo Hawaiian “Untitled” begins filming in August about the same time that Lost starts shooting its 16 episodes for season four on Oahu.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall completes Hawaii filming today 6/8 after shooting about 30 days on Oahu, all but seven at the Turtle Bay Resort.

Claire Danes and William Hurt are tribute recipients at this year’s Maui Film Festival at Wailea on Thursday June 14 (www. Mauifilmfestival.com). Richard Gibbs is the composer appearing at Maui Film Festival’s “Conversations With” at the Wailea Marriott on June 15 at 3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. The Maui Film Office headed by Benita Brazier is sponsoring the two-day “Conversations”

The upcoming Maui Film Festival is one of Hawaii’s most celebrated events and this year is even more grandiose with the Maui Film Office’s “Conversations With,” a Who’s Who of filmmakers in panel discussions at the Wailea Marriott June 14 and June 15.

“Conversations” will discuss the six stages of filmmaking: development, preproduction, production, post-production, distribution and exhibition. Just what does it take to create a film project from the studio to the world of digital media? .

THE STUDIO, Thursday, June 14, Lokelani III: 2:00 - 2:45 p.m.

The major studios Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., 20^th Century Fox, and Paramount all finance the films they release, but they don’t physically produce the films in-house. Instead, they vigilantly supervise those who do in order to protect their investments. Staff jobs at all major studios are highly sought after.

Guest panelist Jon Kuyper, vice president of Warner Premiere, began his career production managing feature films for the Roger Corman. He’s worked on over 40 independent films, which were produced in the U.S. and internationally. He’s managed budgets from $300,000 to $40 million crossing all genres of films. Currently, he is in charge of physical production for Warner Bros. direct to DVD division.

THE PRODUCER, 3:00 - 3:45 p.m. The producer engages in the creation of an intellectual property. They spend two to 10 years nurturing a project until it gets made. They create, they develop, they secure financing, they put teams together, and they stay with a project from the moment of inception until long after the picture leaves the theatre.

Guest panelist Monica Levinson, executive producer, Golden Globe award winning film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, began her career in television news on Capitol Hill before moving to feature films. Monica’s other projects include The Pelican Brief, Private Parts, 28 Days, Zoolander and Dodgeball..

THE DIRECTOR, 4:00 - 4:45 p.m. There’s no exact science to finding a directing job. Everyone gets their first break in their own unique way. If this is the job you envision for yourself, you will need to increase the odds in your favor by being light years ahead of the competition by being well prepared. Guest panelist Betty Thomas started her career with the Second City troupe in Chicago building a career in comedy. She then won the role of police office Lucy Bates in the hit television series Hill Street Blues. Betty was nominated for 6 Emmy Awards and won for Best Supporting Actress. Betty began her work as a director on television and then moved to the world of feature films. She’s directed The Brady Bunch Movie, Private Parts, Dr. Dolittle, 28 Days, and I Spy. Darius Shahmir has worked in both television and feature film production. His most recent endeavor is the short film The Shimmering, an adaptation of a short story by the renowned Hawaiian musician Keola Beamer. This film was shot on Maui and had its premier at the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Friday, June 15, Lokelani III Wailea Marriott.

THE LOCATION MANAGER, 2:00 - 2:45 p.m. Location manager is the first person the outside world meets with respect to a specific film production. This job is to help realize the director’s artistic vision by finding practical locations where the company can shoot. If what the director has envisioned isn’t available, the location manager often has the formidable task of selling the director on the merits of alternate sites. The location manager is an ambassador, and must keep good relationships with neighbors, politicians, residents and property owners. Val Kim was the location manager for Batman 3 & 4, Jurassic Park 3, National Treasure and most recently Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3. Val will discuss the important task of working with the community in securing locations for major feature film productions.

FILM COMPOSER, 3:00 - 3:45 p.m. A film composer scores music to accompany a motion picture for film or television. This could include dramatic underscore as well as popular songwriting. The traditional role of a film composer is to provide the orchestral dramatic underscore, and only more recently has the popular soundtrack begun to stand on its own. Richards Marks has scored over 50 feature films and television shows including Dr. Dolittle, Say Anything, Queen of the Damned, The Simpsons and the hit surf movie screened at the Maui Film Festival Step into Liquid. Richard, like most composers, trained as a musician. He was a session keyboardist in L.A., toured with Chaka Khan and eventually became a member of the L.A. band Oingo Boingo. Richard is one of the few composers who works in both the film and the music business having recently produced and arranged MTV Unplugged: Korn and the upcoming Warner Bros. release of Eisley.

VISUAL EFFECTS & DIGITAL MEDIA, 4:00 - 4:45 p.m.

Visual effects is the term given to a category of special effects in which images or film frames are created and manipulated for film and video. Visual effects usually involve the integration of live-action footage with computer-generated imagery to create scenarios that look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly or simply impossible to capture on film. Digital Media usually refers to electronic media that work on digital codes. Using cutting edge technology digital media can bring classic media like art, writing, filmmaking and music into the digital arena.

Jeff Barnes is the co-founder, CEO and executive producer of The ComputerCafe Group in Santa Maria. Jeff has worked on over 60 studio-released films including Spider-Man 3, the Academy award winning Pan’s Labyrinth, Snakes on a Plane, Memoirs of a Geisha and King Kong. Will Kendall is the producer of the NBC Universal’s webisodes of Battlestar Galactica, executive producer and director of the NBC Universal aftershow Who Wants to be a Superhero and producer of Sci-Fi Drive-In.

For more information, contact the Maui Film Office at 1-808-270-7415.