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‘Pearl Harbor’
movie to film
here in spring

Disney/Touchstone will bankroll
the film's entire budget,
about $135 million

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

It's a go for the mega-budget epic "Pearl Harbor."

Officials of Touchstone Pictures-Disney/Buena Vista said yesterday that the World War II epic has been approved after months of budget negotiations.

"Pearl Harbor" will begin filming on Oahu in April or May, with the movie's release around Memorial Day 2001.

When the film was announced last summer, the budget was $145 million. That has been cut to $130 million to $135 million, necessary to make the deal work, sources said. Disney will finance the film's entire budget, making "Pearl Harbor" one of the most expensive films ever made.

"Pearl Harbor" is based on the events before and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It is a tale of two brothers, one an aviator in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the other in the British Royal Air Force, who are in love with the same woman, according to Michael Bay, who will direct the film and also directed "Armageddon," "The Rock" and "Bad Boys."

Jerry Bruckheimer, one of the most successful producers in Hollywood, and Bay gave up various upfront fees until the studio breaks even with the film. This will save Disney $40 million to $50 million, sources said.

Bay told the Star-Bulletin in September that he was seeking A-list actors such as Gwyneth Paltrow with Gene Hackman. But budget considerations have forced the production to scale back some casting expenditures in favor of "huge" special effects, Bay said.

Actors being considered for the roles of the two brothers are "American Beauty's" Wes Bentley, "The Thin Red Line's" Jim Caviezel and Charlize Theron of "The Cider House Rules."

Army, Navy and Air Force officials in Hawaii have met with producers and visited possible film locations with pre-production crews, including Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Air Field, Fort Shafter and Pearl Harbor.

Proposed filming plans include staging scenes of Japanese fighters bombing and strafing Wheeler and other parts of Schofield that were attacked Dec. 7, 1941.

"Pearl Harbor" would be the fifth most expensive film in movie history after "Titanic," $200 million; "Waterworld," $175 million; "Speed 2," $160 million, and "Armageddon," $140 million.

"Waterworld" was filmed on the Big Island and spent about $35 million here during several months of production. No figures are available on how much "Pearl Harbor" might spend in Hawaii.

Georgette Deemer, Hawaii Film Office manager, and Walea Constantinau, the city's film liaison, were ecstatic about Disney's announcement.

"We'll do everything we can to assist the production," said Deemer, who is especially pleased with the film's subject matter. "The story is really important ... because there's a whole generation of young people who only know about Pearl Harbor as a historical event."