Reel News
TV execs make waves
while catching themWhat's the common thread for several producers planning to film series pilots in Hawaii? Brian Grazer and John Stockwell ("The Break"), Aaron Norris (a Chuck Norris project) and Greg Bonann (an untitled Warner Bros. show) are all avid surfers. And don't think for a minute that wave-riding is not part of the reason they want to work here.
"Baywatch" co-creator Bonann and director McG (of the upcoming "Charlie's Angels 2") reportedly are sealing a pilot deal with The WB. The exec producers are still finalizing concepts for the hourlong show, but a source says it is Hawaii-based. ...
The Norrises will be back in Honolulu in the next couple of weeks for more meetings with state officials about their TV series. "I want to film in Hawaii and only in Hawaii, nowhere else," Aaron says. Tribune Entertainment, with which the brothers recently signed a series deal, "really wants us to go to Hawaii," he said. ...
In more "Baywatch" news, the Fox network reunion movie, which begins filming here next month, has some interesting angles: An Oahu beach will substitute for an L.A. beach; Kauai resident Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa reprises his 1991-92 role as ex-con and martial arts master Mason Sato, who terrorized Mitch (David Hasselhoff) and Hobie; Hasselhoff didn't die in a boat explosion in the 1999-2000 "Baywatch Hawaii" episode "Killing Machine" but has been recovering from amnesia in L.A.; Alexandra Paul, whose character, Lt. Stephanie Holden, did die, returns as a woman who has had facial surgery to look like Holden for devious reasons; C.J., Pamela Anderson's character, is opening a business in Hawaii and invites her former lifeguard buddies to the opening. More later. ...
Morgan Freeman stars opposite Owen Wilson in the likely Hawaii-bound thriller "The Big Bounce," set to begin filming Oct. 28. Wilson plays a charming drifter who hooks up with a criminally minded beauty while trying to decide if he can trust a powerful local figure (Freeman) who befriends him. ...
For the first time in the studio's history, Disney will release an animated feature on home video during the same calendar year it was on movie screens. "Lilo & Stitch" hits stores Dec. 3.
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Contact Tim Ryan at tryan@starbulletin.com.