Oahu filming for war
movie begins Oct. 18

The independent film "Tides of War" by producer-director-actor Brian Trenchard-Smith begins three weeks of filming on Oahu Oct. 18. The film is a heroic story featured around a submarine battle.

Trenchard-Smith made his first film on 8 mm, when he was 15, called "The Chase," about a lunatic escaping from an asylum and chasing him around the countryside with a 1918 bayonet. The "Tides" production, with about a $1 million budget, is using an entirely Hawaii crew, except for the production designer and two assistants. The production is staying low profile until filming begins, at which time it will release the names of its stars and the first-time screenwriter ...

Michael Schiffer, who wrote "Crimson Tide," is developing a surfing tale set in Hawaii about a father and son with director David Mickey Evans ("First Kid" and "The Sandlot") ...

The Fox network has given a pilot commitment to "Murder Book," a police procedural from "North Shore" producers Chris Brancato and Bert Salke. The duo will write the pilot script and will also serve as executive producers. In addition to "North Shore" and "Boomtown," Brancato and Salke have worked on Fox's "Tru Calling" and "Miracles" for ABC ...

Tonight's "Lost" episode, "Tabula Rasa," was written by series co-creator and co-executive producer Damon Lindelof. In next week's show, "Walkabout," the survivors are jolted awake in the middle of the night when wild island beasts invade the beach encampment. Some survivors are horrified by Jack's (Matthew Fox) plan for the dead bodies, still scattered amongst the wreckage, and Jack sees someone in the jungle who might not have been on the plane.

(By the way, Variety says the status for NBC's "Hawaii" and Fox's "North Shore" is "looking shaky.") ...

Former Hawaii International Film Festival director Christian Gaines, now head of the American Film Institute Festival in Los Angeles, running Nov. 4 to 14, might have his best fest ever with six galas, a tribute to director Pedro Almodovar and a celeb list that includes director Zhang Yimou, Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and Al Pacino.

Zhang Yimou's latest film, "House of Flying Daggers," starring Zhang Ziyi, Kaneshiro and Andy Lau, will have its premiere at the fest. The romantic melodrama reportedly explores the conflict between honor and desire and features erotic dance and virtuoso martial arts fight scenes ...