HBO to begin filming on WWII Pacific Miniseries

[Melanie]

FINALLY - some information on this. I can't wait. Wish they'd film here on Okinawa!


HBO to film miniseries on World War II in the Pacific

By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, May 1, 2007



CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Pacific veterans of World War II are about to get their own “Band of Brothers” miniseries on HBO.

HBO Films announced this week that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the duo that produced the Emmy-winning “Band of Brothers” about U.S. soldiers fighting in Europe, have teamed up again for “The Pacific,” a 10-hour series that will track three Marines as they fought the Japanese, from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

The miniseries is based on the books “With the Old Breed” by Eugene Sledge, and “Helmet for My Pillow,” by Robert Leckie, as well as interviews conducted by Hugh Ambrose, son of historian Stephen Ambrose, author of “Band of Brothers.”

Stephen Ambrose — who died in 2002 — and Hugh Ambrose were on Okinawa in 2001 doing research for a book on the Pacific theater during WWII and filming a documentary for the Pacific wing of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans.

Hugh Ambrose also serves as a consultant for the miniseries.

According to HBO Films, shooting for the miniseries will begin this summer in Australia.

“This epic miniseries is based on the true stories of three Marines whose experiences in the Pacific embodied the unique nature of that theater of war, and dramatize how it profoundly differed from the European front,” said HBO Films president Colin Callender in a press release. “This was a different sort of warfighting a different sort of enemy,” he said.

No release date has been announced.

[ibrowse17]

Sounds good, and I look forward to it! Band of Brothers is one of my favorites, and I hope this will be as good.

[Melanie]

Semper Fi, do or die!

And with the story following only 3 Marines, seems we'll get even more attached to the characters than we did with 'Band of Brothers' (if that is possible).

[Emily]

This sounds really good. I loved Band of Brothers so I am looking forward to this. My grandfather, who died a couple of years ago, fought in Iwo Jima so this is of particular interest to me and my family.

[Damon18]

I am really looking forward to this. They did a fantastic job with Band of Brothers and I hope they can do the same with this one. If Hugh Ambrose can put the passion and detail into this like his father did it should be great!

[DisneyorBust]

I have been hoping that Spielberg and Hanks would team up again and focus their talents on the Pacific theater of WWII.
As another person who enjoyed 'Band of Brothers' (multiple times!) I am really looking forward to this mini-series.

[Ian]

This is good news. I am a huge fan of Band of Brothers and will really be looking forward to this one, too.

If Spielberg and Hanks team up for it, it's guaranteed to be good.

[Melanie]

Some casting news....



Trio called for HBO duty on "Pacific"


By Kimberly Nordyke

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Jon Seda, Ashton Holmes and Rami Malek have joined the cast of HBO Films' big-budget World War II miniseries "The Pacific," from executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

They join previously cast James Badge Dale, Val Lauren and Joe Mazzello in the 10-hour companion piece to Hanks and Spielberg's Emmy-winning 2001 saga "Band of Brothers."

"Pacific" tracks the intertwined odysseys of three U.S. Marines -- Robert Leckie (Dale), John Basilone (Lauren) and Eugene Sledge (Mazzello) -- across the vast canvas of the Pacific, from the first clash with the Japanese in the jungles of Guadalcanal to the triumphant return home after V-J Day.

Seda ("Homicide: Life on the Street") is set to play Rodriguez, a friend of Basilone. Holmes ("Boston Legal") will play Sid Phillips, the best friend to Eugene who joins the Marines and is posted to the Pacific early in the war. Malek ("Night at the Museum") is playing Merriell "Snafu" Shelton, a small and excitable Lousianian who is initially hostile to Eugene.

"Pacific" starts shooting in August in Port Douglas, Australia. It will shoot there through year's end and then move to Melbourne. No airdate has yet been set.

"Pacific" is based on the books "With the Old Breed" by Sledge and "Helmet for My Pillow" by Leckie as well as original interviews conducted by the filmmakers and Hugh Ambrose, son of "Brothers" author Stephen E. Ambrose, who died in 2002. Hugh Ambrose serves as a consultant on the miniseries, which reportedly will cost nearly $200 million.