ABC will film
another TV show
in Hawaii

The network plans to revive
its popular 'Fantasy Island' series

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

ABC will film in Hawaii an hour-long pilot and seven episodes of "Fantasy Island," remakes of its popular TV series that ran from 1977-84.

The filming, which will begin this month, brings to three the number of TV productions working the islands.

Disney's Touchstone is also filming for ABC a pilot for a program called "Honolulu Cru" on Oahu. NBC will be shooting "Wind on the Water" on the Big Island.

The filming of "Cru" and "Fantasy Island" has created a production space crunch at the Hawaii Film Studio's on Diamond Head. "Cru" has rented one sound stage; the main stage is being rented by a Japanese production company which is making an animation feature film.

But "'Fantasy Island' is coming to Hawaii somewhere," said Ed Lammi, vice president of production for Columbia-TriStar, which is producing the show with ABC. "We just have to decide where."

"Fantasy Island" production executives this week are scouting locations on Oahu and Kauai, Lammi said.

Casting is being done this week in Los Angeles, including the leads who play Mr. Roarke, the role originally played by Ricardo Montalban, and Tatoo, which was played by the late Herve Villechaize. Studio executives said they did not know if Montalban would make a guest appearance in the pilot.

Barry Sonnenfeld -- who directed the blockbuster "Men in Black," and was cinematographer on "Raising Arizona," "Misery," "When Harry Met Sally," "Throw Momma From the Train" and "Get Shorty" -- will be co-executive producer on the series with Barry Josephson.

The pilots must be ready for broadcast on ABC by May 1, a network spokesperson said.

One-hundred fifty-seven episodes of "Fantasy Island" were aired between January 1977 and May 1984. There also were two videos, "Fantasy Island," and "Return to Fantasy Island."

The original series had Hawaii connections. During the first two seasons, four episodes were filmed in the islands. Exterior shots in the pilot and two episodes were filmed on Kauai with Wailua Falls prominently featured in the opening scene.