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Reel News Tim Ryan |
‘Pearl’ seeks local cast
The NBC pilot tentatively titled "Pearl City," about a diverse team of Oahu detectives, will cast 35 to 40 local actors in speaking roles. Casting of the four leads in Los Angeles is expected to be finished by Monday. Casting director Jerry Franks, formerly of Hollywood and now Maui, said auditions will be held in Honolulu, but that no dates have been set.
Roles for local actors include a detective, an assistant coroner, a "shaky" cop, a female officer, two children (ages 7 to 12), a Chinese clerk, a waitress, special operations officers, a paramedic, and male and female dancers for a "kapu ceremony."
Specific roles include Dr. Shunro, a 52-year-old Asian-American coroner; Susan Taylor, a society woman, early 40s, and her husband, Kole'o, described as a "a jovial 350-pound Samoan"; Capt. Thelma Price, a tough 45-year-old police officer; Keoua, a 65-year-old, powerfully built and totally bald man; Tony, a heavyset Hawaiian and owner of the Aloha Auto Body, and his large, Hawaiian wife; and Nanko, a Japanese actor. ...
Unity House subsidiary Hawaii Pacific Cinema Development Foundation Inc. has been interviewing local crew people to work on a 23-episode talk show, "The Nicole Johnson Show." Filming is to begin this month at a Waikiki hotel. The Kakaako offices are staffed by production assistant Anthony Shields and head of production Meteliko Tuaileva. Al Burns, former IATSE business agent, also works for Hawaii Pacific Cinema.
Johnson's TV experience includes a short-lived Hallmark Channel program, "Midpoint," "a women's issues show that deals with the point between where we are and the hope of what we want to become." In 2002, she hosted a Time Life infomercial for folk music.
One local interviewee was told that Hawaii Pacific Cinema is "buying" the talk show to move it to Hawaii from San Diego, with Steven Stone directing. Messages left at Johnson's Fresh Brewed Life offices in Tennessee and Santa Monica, Calif., were not returned. Unity House, headed by Tony Rutledge, produced the forgettable television movie "Heavenly Road" in the 1980s. ...
NBC's "Average Joe: Hawaii" debuted Monday, and the only good things to say about this embarrassing bottom feeder that lasts through February is that the production put some locals to work for a few weeks and the Big Island looks spectacular. Other than that ...
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Contact Tim Ryan at tryan@starbulletin.com.