‘ER’ to shoot Oahu BECOMES center stage next week for television's No. 1 drama when "ER" begins 10 days of filming the season's last episode, "On the Beach."
season finale
at Oahu sites
It is scheduled to start 10 days
of filming next weekBy Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.comThe story has main character Dr. Mark Greene, portrayed by Anthony Edwards, finally succumbing to the brain tumor he fought throughout the season.
The production is scheduled to film Monday at the USS Missouri Memorial and Ford Island, then through April 20 at several possible locations, including the Dillingham Estate in Mokuleia, used in the TV series "Byrds of Paradise"; a North Shore beach house; the John Kalili Surf Center at Alii Beach Park; Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotel; and Kuhio Beach.
The hourlong drama, in its eighth season, centers on medical professionals in a Chicago hospital emergency room. Edwards' character is a senior attending physician who has survived personal and professional crises. His on-screen wife, Dr. Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston), is a surgeon juggling a new marriage (to Greene) and a new baby, Ella.
Joining them on the Hawaii trip is Hallee Hirsh, who plays Greene's daughter, Rachel.
The episode will be directed by John Wells, who wrote the script. Wells arrived yesterday to complete location scouting.
The production will use as many as 20 Hawaii extras on one day, 40 over a three-day period. Actor Wayne Geiger of Hawaii Kai will stand in for Edwards on Monday before the actor's usual stand-in arrives.
Brian Keaulana will supervise water safety for the Waikiki and North Shore scenes.
The second floor of the Alii Beach Park Surf Center, last used by "Baywatch Hawaii" as the fictional lifeguards' headquarters, will be transformed into a restaurant for a scene with Edwards and Kingston. One day of filming will be in a suite at the Moana Surfrider Hotel where Greene and daughter first stay, and a surfing sequence between the two will be shot in Waikiki near the Duke Kahanamoku statue.
The episode begins in Chicago where a sickly Greene decides he needs to get away from work. He comes to Hawaii with Rachel, who has been rebellious this season.
Greene gives Rachel a tour of Ford Island and the USS Missouri, explaining that his father was stationed here and even his grandfather was in the Navy. He decides Hawaii is the one place he's always wanted to come back to and decides to stay. As his condition worsens, Greene refuses to do anything heroic to save his life, including taking stronger medication or undergoing more tests.
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