Film needs soldiers, jungle villagers
By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
The casting call is going out for another war movie to be filmed in Hawai'i.
O'ahu will double as the West African jungle for the $70 million major motion picture, scheduled to film here from March through July.
The crew will begin arriving in Honolulu in a little more than a week to look for faces to add to a cast that could be as large as 3,500 people, said Deedee Ricketts, a casting director in charge of small parts and extras.
Speaking parts are still available, but Bruce Willis already has been picked as the hero in what Revolution Studios has tentatively titled "Man of War," written by Alex Lasker and Pat Cirillo. There's talk in movie circles that the title could change to "Hostile Act" because of the United States' real-life war in Afghanistan.
Italian actress Monica Bellucci will play opposite Willis. Bellucci portrays an American doctor whom Willis' character is sent to rescue from a West African village before the civil war reaches her. Her character refuses to go unless the villagers are also evacuated.
The Hollywood Reporter says Cole Hauser, whose films include "Tigerland" and "Good Will Hunting," is in negotiations to co-star as a cocky young soldier who joins the Special Forces unit.
Ricketts is mum on the details, except to say "it's getting to be a pretty big movie" that will be shot primarily on O'ahu.
She cites director Antoine Fuqua's passion for authenticity. Fuqua last directed "Training Day," a 2001 Denzel Washington flick about a veteran cop who escorts a rookie on his first day with the Los Angeles Police Department's inner-city drug unit.
Ricketts scouted Los Angeles looking for real gang members to cast in small roles for that movie. This time, she is looking for people to play West African villagers of all ages, and adults of any ethnicity to play U.S. troops.
People who can portray West Africans will have the best chance of being cast, she said, especially if they can speak the Ibo and Fulani languages. Children, pregnant women and "people who look like they've been through tragedy" are needed to play villagers.
Those needed to play military men and women must be 18 or older.
Roles are available for hotel employees, embassy staff, a limo driver, soldiers, bodyguards and commandos. Stand-ins and photo doubles also will be hired.
Casting will be from 2 to 7 p.m. Jan. 11, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 12, at the Renaissance Ilikai Hotel, 1777 Ala Moana.
All applicants must have flexible schedules and be available from March through July. People should come dressed casually, but not in aloha shirts, and will have their pictures taken, Ricketts said. Wearing traditional African attire or military outfits would be a plus, she said.
The Revolution Studios project is one of three major motion pictures that state leaders hope will pump as much as $100 million into the economy.
