Aya Sumika has her makeup retouched during a publicity photo shoot for the new series "Hawaii."
The cast and crew of "Hawaii"
surge toward a network debut
Stars of the NBC police drama "Hawaii" stare menacingly at a production photographer as they stand in ankle-deep water in a Black Point tide pool.
"Uh, I think the tide's rising," says Sharif Atkins, who plays a veteran detective on the show, set to debut as a preview on Aug. 30. The first episode, tentatively titled "Cops and Robbers," is set to air Sept. 1.
"Turn a bit to your left and shift your eyes back to the camera," the photographer tells Atkins, who's posing with the show's female lead and romantic interest, Aya Sumika.
Just as the actor shifts his weight, water surges over the lava shelf and Atkins slips on the slick limu but is caught by Sumika just before correcting his balance, while water slowly creeps up the fabric of their long pants to their knees.
Sumika and her co-star Sharif Atkins, a former regular on "ER," are in their on-screen roles as police officers.
Earlier, the group posed at the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikiki, and that evening at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Lagoon, for the publicity shots that will be distributed to media outlets nationwide.
Although it was work, the actors weren't balking.
"This is incredibly beautiful," Sumika said.
"Not a bad place to work," an NBC photographer said.
Between group, solo and duo shots, the actors studied the second episode's script while sipping water or eating ice cream bars and mochi.
The stretch of beach just west of Black Point had few people this weekday afternoon except for three passing surfers.
"Who are these guys?" a surfer asked a crew member.
"Actors in a big network series," the man answered.
Lights, cameras and attention are trained on the cast of "Hawaii" at a beach west of Black Point.
The surfer looked around, nodded, then continued down the beach for a surf session.
The ensemble cast stood close together under a sun shade while second assistant director Matt Locey helped crew members pack sandbags on the shade's footings to prevent it from being washed away by the rising tide.
"It's not going anywhere," Locey said.
WHILE ANOTHER Hawaii-based series, "North Shore," depicts the resort aspect of Oahu, "Hawaii" will show the Aloha State's grittier side, similar to any urban center in spite of the idyllic surroundings. The first episode -- "Hawaii Justice" -- will have the police officers discovering a smoldering torso at the base of an active volcano, although the location is removed from any volcanic action, at Oahu's Lanai Lookout, where the realistic orange glare comes from lights, not lava.
The ensemble cast includes "Terminator" star Michael Biehn, Atkins, Ivan Sergei, Eric Balfour, Sumika, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Peter Navy Tuiasosopo.
The cast of "Hawaii": Aya Sumika, Sharif Atkins, Michael Biehn, Ivan Sergi, Eric Balfour and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.
The actors and the show's creator, Jeff Eastin, headed to Century City, Calif., over the weekend to meet with more than 150 print and TV reporters for interviews about the series. They'll be back by Thursday, the first day of filming at a location to be determined.
(ABC's "Lost" also begins filming Thursday, tentatively at a fictitious plane crash site on Dillingham Highway in Mokuleia.)
This marks the first time in Hawaii history that three series will be filmed here simultaneously. Fox Television's "North Shore" began filming in June.
Promotional spots for "Hawaii" have already started and will increase during NBC's Olympic broadcast, an NBC official said.
Click for online
calendars and events.
