Posted on: Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Hollywood producer Lee tells why he chose Canada
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
Calling for more government spending to attract film productions to Hawai'i, a phalanx of speakers with ties to the movie industry appeared yesterday at a Legislature-sponsored event.
Chris Lee, a Hollywood producer ("Final Fantasy") who is from Hawai'i, said he considered bringing "Ecks vs. Sever," starring Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu, to Hawai'i for filming, "but the incentives that are available in Canada outweigh the creative desire to come here." He spoke to reporters yesterday at the Signature Dole Cannery Theatres during a program titled "Hawaii's Film Industry: Global Impact, Global Challenges."
The producer said he is making his feature in Vancouver, British Columbia, because tax incentives and lower expenses there provided a better financial bottom line.
Lee said "runaway productions," as projects shot on foreign soil are called, should serve to alert Hawai'i that it competes in a global market to attract moviemakers.
Vancouver has four active movie studios, and 25 film projects there are now under way. A huge movie facility is being built in Toronto.
Three major films shot partially in the Islands are out or soon to be released. Universal Pictures' "Dragonfly," starring Kevin Costner, was filmed on Kaua'i last year. Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," an animated feature with the voices of Hawai'i actors Jason Scott Lee and Tia Carrere and scheduled to open in June, used sound recordings made in Honolulu and background shots filmed on Kaua'i and Maui. MGM's "Windtalkers," starring Nicolas Cage, is released this summer.
The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is requesting $9.5 million to upgrade the Hawa'ii Film Studio, the state-owned facility at Diamond Head.
Hawai'i needs an infrastructure and facilities, said Donne Dawson, director of the Hawai'i Film Office, which oversees the film studio.
A new sound stage was built in 1994, but two-thirds of the existing plant — which includes decrepit production offices and an old structure often called the "Hawai'i Five-0 sound stage" — still needs renovation.
Since Sept. 11, confusion over airport policies has affected filming here, said Scott Wong, business representative of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees. He said Japanese crews have stopped coming for commercial shoots because of rumors that the film they prefer to hand-carry through airports is X-rayed — and thus damaged — by security workers.
