Hawai'i fares well as location double
By Matt Sedensky
Associated Press
In the beginning, Hawai'i was Hawai'i, and it was good.
Advertiser library photo • April 30, 2003
These days, though — on screen at least — the state finds itself being used less often for classic island images of breeze-tickled palms and gem-blue Pacific waves lapping ashore a pristine beach. Instead, it's frequently posing as any number of locales from Nigeria and the Congo to Brazil and Venezuela.
Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter, right, appears in a scene from the season finale of NBC's "ER," which was filmed in Kualoa. Hawai'i is increasingly a favorite replacement location for movies and television.
The shift in the islands' role in television and film productions, insiders say, comes partly out of necessity for the survival of Hawai'i's film industry — which drove an estimated $135 million into the state's economy last year.
"Hawai'i — for it to be a player in this business — has to represent itself as more than just Hawai'i," said Chris Lee, a former studio executive and producer who is now overseeing a new University of Hawai'i program including film and digital arts. "If you said we're only going to be Hawai'i, it's very limiting."
Perhaps most enduring are big screen images of Hawai'i playing itself, like Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on a deserted beach in 1953's "From Here to Eternity" or a surfboard-straddling Elvis Presley in 1961's "Blue Hawaii."
But moviegoers, since the beginning of film, have also seen Hawai'i act as an imposter, from 1958's "South Pacific" in which Hawai'i posed as an unnamed Pacific island, to 2000's "Jurassic Park III," which cast the state as Costa Rica.
Since 9-11, industry figures say, casts and crews, for both safety and convenience, have increasingly avoided foreign locations perceived as dangerous.
"Every month, people become more reluctant to go to more exotic, less secure places," said Bill Bowling, a veteran Hollywood location manager who has scouted in Hawai'i. "Hawai'i is situated just extremely well right now."
Last year alone, the islands saw the filming of "Tears of the Sun," the Bruce Willis flick set in Nigeria, "Die Another Day," the James Bond film set off Korea, and "Welcome to the Jungle," the forthcoming movie with the Rock starring as a bounty hunter in Brazil's Amazon.
The islands have also played Tahiti ("Six Days/Seven Nights"), New Guinea ("Krippendorf's Tribe"), and Venezuela ("Dragonfly"), among other places.
"It's kind of limitless," said Timothy Hillman, another veteran location manager whose most recent project brought him to Hawai'i for "50 First Kisses," a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. "There's jungles where you can pretend you're anywhere in South America and Africa. There's places downtown that can pass for middle America."
To be fair, films set here continue to be shot here. Last year — like the Sandler flick this year — brought the filming of "Blue Crush" and "The Big Bounce" — films set in Hawai'i.
But, more and more, productions that might have previously ventured further from home are ending up in the central Pacific.
The hit NBC show "ER," for example, first filmed on the islands in 2002, for an episode chronicling Dr. Mark Greene's final days in Hawai'i before succumbing to a brain tumor. This year, the drama returned to film two more episodes — both set in the Congo.
"They were all determined that they were going to go to South Africa" to film, said Ginger Peterson, who was the location manager for the shows. "I was able to take pictures of locations that nobody's ever shot at before and they were kind of blown away."
For years, the state-run Hawaii Film Office has been trying to spread the message that Hawai'i is close yet offers a window into faraway worlds.
The office has run ads and inserted posters into trade magazines such as The Hollywood Reporter, billing the islands as "As close as faraway gets." After the Oscars, it ran an ad with an image from "Tears of the Sun," that read: "We've landed the roles of the Brazilian jungle, the Korean peninsula and war-torn Africa, not to mention Venezuela, England and Mars. Is there an Award for Best Location Double?"
The efforts, industry leaders say, appear to be working.
"You're seeing Hawai'i being doubled for other locations more than Hawai'i playing itself," said Donne Dawson, manager of theHawaii Film Office.
The reason, Dawson says, is easily illustrated. "A production was scouting Hawai'i and another location in South America at the same time. The production crew that was out scouting actually got hijacked in the jungle," she said. "They ended up saying 'That's it, we're going to Hawai'i."'
Hawai'i still faces stiff competition from other locales, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Fiji, and the Bahamas. Those places can sometimes offer similar settings, feelings of security, and often offer better financial incentives. But they can't always duplicate the convenience.
Bowling, who has worked on productions in more than 70 countries in his 20-year career, said there are some drawbacks to filming foreign-set shots in Hawai'i rather than on-location.
"Looks get used up," he said. "Everything's good about it but you've just sort of seen the place in many movies. You don't want the audience to think they've seen it before."
Still, many producers have been able to pull off unique shots. And they say the benefits are incomparable.
"I think it was the logical choice," said Chris Chulack, the producer of the "ER" episodes in which Hawai'i shed its idyllic image to become a war-torn country in which the show's doctors risk their lives. "And it works out wonderfully at the end of the day when you get to go take a dip in the ocean."
