‘Pearl Harbor’ sets sail
aboard USS John Stennis

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

It's official! Pearl Harbor will be the location of the largest premiere in motion picture history when Disney's "Pearl Harbor" debuts May 21 on the deck of the USS John Stennis.

The event on the nuclear aircraft carrier will be open to more than 2,000 guests, including the film's principal actors and production staff, media, veterans and other dignitaries.

The $135 million Touchstone Pictures production by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay was filmed on Oahu last year, primarily at Pearl Harbor, Schofield Barracks and other Oahu military installations.

All activities related to the film, including the premiere party with the Honolulu Symphony Pops orchestra, will be aboard the carrier's 4.5 acre deck. The ship's home port is San Diego.

The Honolulu Symphony Pops orchestra, conducted by Matt Catingub, will perform prior to and after the premiere. An 80-voice choir and a Navy group called the Sea Chanters also will perform and a fireworks display will take place after the film.

Disney has invited President Bush but the White House so far has not responded.

Catingub expects the Pops music will be "very Americana" with lots of marches, and some special musical material provided by Disney.

"It's one of the biggest challenges I have ever had because (the music) has to be synched to fireworks," he said.

The screen Disney will construct on the Stennis' deck is one of the world's largest, exceeding the size of the one Disney used in Central Park for the "Pocahontas" premiere, sources said.

Disney has been quiet about details of the premiere while the hearing for the Ehime Maru is being conducted.

Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin and Kauai resident Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa star in the love story with a wartime backdrop. The film was written by Randall Wallace and directed by Michael Bay.

The film is to open May 25th.

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