Tim Ryan’s Reel Hawaii

“I think we’ve all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically.” – Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) said yesterday via the web…

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides wraps this Friday on Oahu with filming throughout the week in a large warehouse near Honolulu International Airport where some mega sets have been built…

The production spent about two weeks shooting off Windward Oahu primarily Heeia Pier and in Kaneohe Bay…

By the time the production is wrapped out – by the end of August – Disney and Jerry Bruckheimers‘ production companies will have spent about $100 million in Hawaii including the four-week shoot on Kauai…Bruckheimer said in a Email that he’s back on Oahu this week for the final filming since it’s “almost time to move to the next shoot location”…

HAWAII FIVE-0 KUDOS: Crew seem to be happy – no ecstatic – about “The Five-0″ experience so far…”I’m very happy, very happy,” one crew member told Reel Hawaii this week…One surprising thing several local crew said is having a few production executives “actually taking time to tell us when we do a good job,” a crew member said…”That is very rare”…

“There’s a decidedly lack of yelling on this one,” a crew vet said…That’s saying a lot considering all the location changes and new sets required….A former Honolulu Advertiser warehouse is being used as a sound stage; the production offices are at at Gentry-Pacific on Nimitz Highway…

“There’s every indication that the network and certainly this production team and this series is going to be very big,” a junior production executive said…

CBS has ordered 12 hourlong episodes then will evaluate the ratings before deciding if another nine episodes will be ordered….”We’ll know by mid October, no later, if we’re a go or not”....

After a long day of filming at the International Market Place in Waikiki last week, Five-0 star Alex O’Loughlin took some time to pose for photos and chat with with fans…”Thank you,” O’Loughlin told each fan after the photos…That’s the same thing Magnum, P.I. star Tom Selleck would do when filming in such a public place...

UNIVERSAL PICTURES BATTLESHIP STARTING CASTING: The first call is for Japanese men (American citizens) to play “Japanese Navy” ages 19 – 35 for paid work. Possible dates for employment are: 9/7, 9/8, 9/15 and 9/21. Must be willing to have military haircut…More info to come…

HAWAII FIVE-0 IS A LOCATIONS MACHINE! SHOOTING AT IOLANI SCHOOL, INTERNATIONAL MARKET PLACE, FORT DERUSSY & UPPER MANOA

Several hundred acting hopefuls descended on ABC’s Off the Map extras’ audition last weekend for a chance to appear in the show when it starts filming five episodes on Oahu Aug. 30…Some arrived in Latin American themed clothing since the storyline line is in the Amazon…Casting executives were looking for Spanish looking people of all ages with Spanish speaking being a plus…The casting auditorium across from Iolani School was filled with people of all ethnicities and ages, including several toddlers and one decidedly pregnant hopeful…Casting also was held at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore…

Like it’s predecessor, the new Hawaii Five-0 is using as locations alot of favorite haunts in and around Waikiki and neighboring valleys…Last week, the series, which premiers in September, spent two days at Iolani School featuring the main cast watching a fake football game between the “Kukui Kings” and “Scorpions”…The football teams’ members were former high school players which made the scenes look especially authentic…Current high school players, including those from Iolani could not be hired because it would have violated their amateur status…

The Kings’ team was filmed doing the traditional Maori haku led by Vili who leads chants and cheers for the University of Hawaii football team Warriors…

The International Market Place was the location on Thursday where a criminal is chased down and tackled – literally – by Five-0 star Alex O’Loughlin (Steve McGarrett) who doesn’t appear reluctant to do any of his own stunts…In the chase and tackling scene, O’Loughlin flies through the air and neck ties his prey with both men falling on an inflatable stunt mattress…

The “Bad Guy” (left) with one of Honolulu’s finest

Hawaii Five-0 director Paul Edwards (above)

Earlier in Thursday’s filming, Scott Caan (above) who plays Det. Danny “Danno” Williams captures a crook who slips and falls onto a fake “Find a Pearl in an Oyster” wooden stand scattering oyster shells,  ice, and water (See below)…

Caan (above) apparently had recovered from a visible limp during Monday’s filming at Iolani…

Robert Campbell (above) holds the clapboard as one of his many duties

Today’s filming was along the trail to Manoa Falls where a Makana Kai A-Star tour helicopter had been airlifted and set in tall grass as if it had just crashed. That set the stage for O’Loughlin to chase a criminal through the field…The second location was along a wider area of Manoa Stream in the rain forest this time featuring numerous extras aka prisoners, Daniel Dae Kim (Chin Ho Kelly), and O’Loughlin again…

The damaged Makana Kai helicopter used for the crash scene is the same one that crashed landed about 18 months agoon Wiliwilinui Trail in Waialae Iki. The pilot landed the chopper on a narrow portion of the ridge after it suddenly lost power…Neither the pilot nor the one passenger were injured in the crash…The Hawaii Five-0 production rented the aircraft just for today’s filming and it was gone by sunset…

Hana hous to the the Five-0 crew who worked tirelessly in the muddy, humid area lugging equipment up and down steep, slipper slopes. An special hats off to the security team who firmly but politely hundreds of hikers walking the Manoa Falls Trail pass the film locations. When Five-0 fans stopped to watch or take pictures of the filming the security made sure they weren’t dangerously close to the slippery cliff or using camera flashes…

The security never raised its voices or acted aggressively toward the hikers or Five-0 fans.

“We know that on public property the public has a right to be there, watch filming, and take photos if they don’t interfere in the shoot,” a guard told a family visiting from San Diego...

Mahalo to passersbys who provided photos…

The 65-year-old British actress portrays Prospera, an exiled sorceress whose vengeance is unleashed when her enemies are shipwrecked on her magical island…The Tempest was directed by Julie Taymor...The Film Society of Lincoln Center named director Julie Taymor’s The Tempest as the festival’s Centerpiece, to be screened on Saturday, October 2…That’ll be just a few weeks after it closes the Venice Film Festival…Taymor started adapting Shakespeare’s The Tempest in October 2008, starting with recasting the duke Prospero with Mirren, and naming her Prospera…Filming was initially  delayed by its distributor Miramax. Now a general release date of Dec. 10 is set…

The $2- million film The Tempest which shot on Lanai and the Big Island and starring Helen Mirren will open Dec. 10 in New York & Los Angeles. Mirrern (above) stands in the middle of a fire ring in this adaptation of Shakespeare’s mystical thriller…

Here’s the storyline news release: “Academy Award-nominated Julie Taymor (Across the Universe, Frida) brings an original dynamic to a 400 year-old story by changing the gender of the sorcerer Prospero into the sorceress Prospera, portrayed by Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Prospera’s journey spirals through vengeance to forgiveness as she reigns over a magical island, cares for her young daughter, Miranda, and unleashes her powers against shipwrecked enemies in this exciting, masterly mix of romance, tragicomedy and the supernatural”….

Photos: Touchstone Pictures/Miramax Films…

Russel Brand (above left and below) and Alfred Molina perform in a scene from the Big Island…

The Tempest reportedly is one of the most eagerly awaited prestige films of the year. It’s secured a spot at this year’s Venice Film Festival and is the centerpiece spot at the New York Film Festival…The movie will be released in the U.S. in December by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures. It also stars Chris Cooper, Djimon Hounsou, Reeve Carney and Felicity Jones…

OHINA SHORT FILM SHOWCASE IS BACK!

The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2010 grand final will be held on the Big Island in Hilo at a waterfall on private land…The televised special will be held Sept. 12 from 4-8 p.m….Other stops on the tour have been in Switzerland and Italy…Mainland production executive Richard Drake, who worked on the recent Predators film also shot on the Big Island, is doing the majority of the key planning for the event…The event currently is in pre production in Hilo…

In other Big Island news, New Line Cinema’s (Warner Bros. Pictures) locations execs for the sequel Journey to the Center of the Earth – officially called Journey 2: The Mysterious Island – are expected to take a first hard look at the Big Island in about week as a possible location when production begins as early as next month or October, Oahu sources said…The production plans to film about 90 percent of the film on Oahu and the remaining on a neighbor island…Locations manager is Colleen Gibbons who held the same post on Avatar…This Journey will be directed by Brad Peyton and stars John Hutcherson (above) and Anita Briem (below); rumored to act in Journey are Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Miranda Cosgrove…

Here’s the story: Professor Trevor Anderson and his nephew embark on a journey to a mysterious island that was the subject of three classic novels, Treasure Island. (Since Brendan Fraser has withdrawn as the film’s star, the sequel is being reworked to make Josh Hutcherson as the lead character. Fraser played Prof. Trevor Anderson in the original, and Hutcherson played his nephew, Sean)…

Journey is slated for a September 23, 2011 release…

As previous reported, the Ohina Short Film Showcase is back after a four-year hiatus. This short film showcase provides a unique venue for Hawai‘i’s filmmakers to come together and present their creative talents to our local community…The showcase will be held at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Doris Duke Theatre at 900 S. Beretania Street on Friday, Aug. 13 and Saturday, Aug. 14.  In addition, the showcase will be traveling to Kona for a special showing at the historic Aloha Theatre on Saturday, September 18…

The Ohina Short Film Showcase is produced by a dvolunteers in the arts and film industry.  ‘Ohina’s board of directors appoint an independent judging panel who decides on the short list to be screened during the showcase over two days.  All selected filmmakers will be e-mailed confirmations and invited to the 2010 showcase.

For more information visit www.ohina.org.