Reel News
Adam Sandler on
Oahu for many kissesAdam Sandler wasn't in Honolulu last week just to golf. The star of "Punch-Drunk Love," partly filmed in Waikiki, was here scouting locations for the romantic comedy "Fifty First Kisses" which will film on Oahu for about five weeks beginning in March. Sandler reteams with his "Wedding Singer" co-star, Drew Barrymore. Peter Segal, director of Sandler's "Tommy Boy" and the upcoming "Anger Management," will direct.
The story is about a man who falls for a woman with a short-term memory disorder. Every day their love feels new to her -- literally. He must woo her again and again, or she'll forget that he's the one for her.
Sandler is producing under his Happy Madison Productions, with distribution by Columbia Pictures. Screenwriters are Lowell "Babaloo" Mandel and George Wing.
About 50 local crew members are expected to work on the film. Another 30 will work for a week on an untitled Ben Stiller project to begin filming next month. The Stiller movie will be based at the Turtle Bay Resort and Sandler's at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. ...
Former "Baywatch Hawaii" executive Frank Conway is unit production manager on "The Break," the Fox Television pilot to film here for 15 days beginning Feb. 24. The show is written, directed and produced by "Blue Crush" writer/director John Stockwell. Conway, who arrives tomorrow, will set up shop at the Turtle Bay Resort and will also unit-manage two "ER" episodes scheduled to film on Oahu beginning April 21.
In "ER," Hawaii will substitute for the Congo in the shows, so the production will be looking to cast several black actors. (Hawaii as Africa can only mean one major location: Kualoa Ranch.)
Speaking of "The Break," casting has begun locally through Anna Fishburn Casting (521-9100). ...
The Hawaii-based Bruce Willis film "Tears of the Sun" opens nationwide on March 7. In a recent preview screening, one viewer graded the film "B," calling it "an entertaining if not partially thrilling cat-and-mouse chase with a blockbuster 'big' feel to it" but with a too-similar "Three Kings" scenario.
Reel News unspools every Wednesday.
Contact Tim Ryan at tryan@starbulletin.com.