TELEVISION
KATHERINE NICHOLS /
KNICHOLS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Tani Lynn sang between episodes of "Flight 29 Down" at Sunset on the Beach Saturday night. The 18-year-old released her first CD in 2003.
|
|
Hawaii actress Tani Lynn gets tough in the second season of "Flight 29"
Tani Lynn Fujimoto was relegated to a minuscule role in "Flight 29 Down" last year, but after earning a standing ovation from cast and crew on the set for her gutsy performance in four episodes of the upcoming season, she had best prepare herself for the spotlight.
"Flight 29 Down"
Second season premieres at 2 p.m. Saturday on Discovery Kids (repeats throughout the week)
|
Indeed, anyone who heard the young talent belt out several songs -- including a risky and beautifully handled Celine Dion number -- at Sunset on the Beach Saturday night knows the biggest challenge for the 18-year-old Sacred Hearts Academy graduate will be choosing which avenue to pursue first: film, television, singing, theater or a journalism degree.
A large crowd braved intermittent rain at Queen's Beach to catch Fujimoto and her teenage cast-mates in the second-season premiere of the 'tween drama "Flight 29 Down." The 13-part series follows 10 castaways stranded in Micronesia after their plane, carrying them from Los Angeles to an eco-adventure camp (without chaperones!), crashes in a storm.
"I got to run through the dirt and climb up hills and eat roots," said Fujimoto, who uses the stage name Tani Lynn. "Every girl's dream! I love to get dirty."
Wearing skinny Calvin Klein jeans, suede boots and a crocheted shrug over a silk peasant top, Fujimoto held her own onstage with Mayor Mufi Hannemann and quickly made everyone forget that she was the only cast member from the show in attendance. The others -- busy actors with movies like "High School Musical" and top-ranked television shows such as "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy" on their résumés -- returned to Los Angeles immediately after 52 days of shooting wrapped in March.
In the first season, Fujimoto's character, Abby, felt excluded from the others and frustrated with their complacency. So she snuck off with two other kids and the pilot, then returned later without her companions. In Season 2, flashback scenes will detail what she experienced.
Initially, Abby was sweet and spiritual and "not at all a leader," said executive producer Gina Watumull. This year, however, "Tani Lynn comes back to camp a very changed person. And that one person coming back in really changes the chemistry of the whole group, and that leads to the Season 2 cliffhanger."
COURTESY DISCOVER KIDS
Romance blooms between Corbin Bleu (Nathan) and Hallee Hirsh (Daley) in the second season of "Flight 29 Down."
|
|
During filming at Kualoa Ranch, Fujimoto said she ate a worm, even though the shot did not require that she actually swallow. "I did it as a dare," she said. "I just like to try new things."
Fujimoto -- who is half Japanese with a sprinkling of Scottish, German, English, Polish, French and American Indian -- said she plans to head for Los Angeles to pursue a film career. But she remains committed to her education and is passionate about politics and public service.
"I think I'm the only 18-year-old who watches C-Span," she laughed.
In the meantime she hopes that Hawaii residents support what she describes as "a quality show for kids, which is rare."
Last year, "nobody really knew how (the show) was going to do," said executive producer Rann Watumull, "but it has developed a very loyal following." So loyal, in fact, the series finished its first season in 2005 as Discovery Kids' top-ranked show.
The Watumulls, co-founders and senior executives of Honolulu-based Hawaii Film Partners, said they got through the second season shoot "on time and on budget" despite plenty of interference from the weather on their 26-acre rented parcel at Mokuleia. Everything was shot outdoors.
"This is where we give a lot of credit to our crew," said Rann Watumull. "There are a couple of days when you do see rain, and it's for real."
Occasionally, one crew member did nothing but hold jackets during the scenes and help the young actors cover up during breaks. Of 60 crew members, nearly all were hired locally.
At less than $400,000 per episode, "we are very lean and mean," said Gina Watumull. This helped create a family atmosphere on the set, with Watumull sometimes bringing home-baked brownies to supplement the catering.
This season, fans can expect "much more action and adventure and tension in the romance," said Rann Watumull. That was clear in the first episode as Nathan (actor Corbin Bleu) struggles to tell Daley (Hallee Hirsh) how much he likes her, while she works to establish herself as an effective leader of the often fractious group.
"Flight 29 Down" is making an impact beyond the United States. Episodes from the first season will be broadcast in Europe, Australia, Israel and Latin America.
"It's more than a business to us," said Gina Watumull. "We're here, we're trying to build in Hawaii a television and film industry that doesn't just pack up and go when they're finished shooting. We're trying to change the whole paradigm."
Added Rann Watumull, "Otherwise, we are at the beck and call of outside forces in Hollywood."
At the end of one of the new episodes, 10-year-old Lex, the youngest and smartest of the survivors, proudly shows his new vegetable garden to his fellow castaways.
"The good news is we'll have a decent food supply in a couple of months," said one character. Another quickly responded, "The bad news is we might be here to eat it."
If the second season maintains the ratings of the first year, there might be time to plant several gardens.