Reel News
‘The Break’
gains big guns"The Break" is getting a break. There's good news already for the TV series, now expanded to at least 13 episodes. "Boomtown" writers/producers Chris Brancato and Albert Salke have signed a seven-figure, three-year deal with Fox TV to create, write and produce new programs for the network and work on existing projects. They'll initially come on board as executive producers of "The Break," John Stockwell's project about Hawaii-based cops, which started filming on Oahu Monday.
Brancato and Salke are two of the most sought-after writer-producers in the business, a network source said.
The pilot episode of "The Break," written and directed by Stockwell, wraps up three days of filming at Banzai Pipeline today, with executive producer Brian Grazer observing. Three local actors won major supporting roles, including "Blue Crush" alumnus Kala Alexzander (as HPD Detective Braden), Lana Papke (as Leilani) and 13-year-old Chas Chidester (as lead actor Dylan Bruno's troubled son, Alexander).
Two other actors playing Crime Reduction Unit members, Vanessa Minnillo and Ian Anthony Dale, are from southern California.
A major car crash scene is planned in the third and last week of filming in front of the Duke statue in Waikiki. The scene includes a rollover and a "body" flying out of the car ...
"The Hulk" stopped on Maui last weekend. Director Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and a couple dozen L.A. and Hawaii crew members needed one shot: a Jeep driving by a canopy of trees with "mist and light rain." The scene was filmed at Honolua Bay. The group arrived Friday, left Sunday and spent an estimated $100,000 in the process. The film opens in June ...
Local Coast Guard officials set aside a week last month for meetings and site tours with producer Aaron Norris and brother, actor Chuck, about a proposed Hawaii-based series.
The visit never happened because, according to Lions Gate executive Kevin Beggs, the Norrises are honing the script. Chuck Norris would play a Coast Guard commander in the show, to be produced by Beggs' company for NBC. An Iraqi conflict would have no effect on Coast Guard cooperation, officials here said.
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Contact Tim Ryan at tryan@starbulletin.com.