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Reel News Tim Ryan |
Pilot of new drama
filming at MokuleiaLost" has found a new home on a Mokuleia beach. Filming of the two-hour ABC TV castaway drama pilot episode moved to the beach last Saturday and will continue over the next three weeks. A quarter-mile of Farrington Highway has been covered with some 10 inches of sand to make it look like a single wide beach where an L-1011 (a primary set in the show) had "crashed." The pilot's most spectacular scenes are scheduled for today when a part of the beached aircraft is blown up, simulating the moment after the crash. A crane will lift a 70-foot-long wing vertically, then drop it during the explosion.
From what I saw, the plane's fuselage has been recarpeted and burned, and the seats repainted to match what was shot in Los Angeles. A path cleared across the sand to simulate the crash path has been sprinkled with charcoal dust to make it look charred.
"Lost" filming originally started in Heeia, going on for six days a week, shooting about three script pages a day, which is similar to a feature film. The story follows a group of people stuck on an unnamed Pacific island after surviving a plane crash, and they're forced to build a new society in a sort of adult version of "Lord of the Flies." Producer JJ Abrams says the survivors face "a lot of freaky stuff going on, animals they've never seen before ... "
Some scenes have a "monster" pulling a man out of the cockpit. A polar bear, of all things, is one of the animals in the drama, and there are three incarnations of the beast: a large, complete body used in the chase scene filmed in Nuuanu; another that's shot but still breathing; and the polar bear's feet.
A crash survivor gets sucked into the airplane's engine. The story has an unresolved ending, with much left to learn about the characters -- perfect for a lead-in to a regular series.
Daniel Dae Kim ("Angel") is the latest to join the ensemble cast.
Local cast and crew seem happy with the mainland staff, describing them as "incredible," "the nicest bunch of people," "no egos" and "a creative experience," and producer Abrams himself as "delightful and very human." Producers held a party for cast and crew at the Ilikai Hotel after the first week of filming.
ABC announces its fall network schedule on May 12. There's already an unofficial "Lost" Web site at http://lost. b0x.com, offering a bumper sticker that reads "I promise to get 'Lost' on ABC this fall."
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Contact Tim Ryan at tryan@starbulletin.com.