Actors Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista star in a new movie, “The Wrecking Crew,” which was filmed in Hawai’i and New Zealand, and releases next week. It will start streaming globally on Prime Video at 10 p.m. on Jan. 27.
The fast-paced action comedy features the estranged brothers, Jonny Hale (Momoa) and James Hale (Bautista), who reunite when their father dies mysteriously. In trying to figure out what happened, the brothers discover a conspiracy with the power to tear their family apart.
The story is set in Hawaiʻi, but filmed in the United States and New Zealand. Filming included 12 days in Hawaiʻi and 43 days in New Zealand, Angela Laprete, the Hawaiʻi producer for “The Wrecking Crew," told Aloha State Daily. Scenes captured in Hawaiʻi include a murder in Chinatown (which doubles as Kalihi in the movie), a chase scene on the H3, and motorcycle rides along the coast of east Oʻahu.
The idea for the buddy film started when Bautista and Momoa were working together on ”See,” a television series that follows the human race when it has lost its sense of sight and has to find new ways to survive.
“I got to spend some time with Jason offset and realized he's just such a fun guy, and our energies are so different,” said Bautista, in a global virtual press conference. “We just don't clash. He's super high energy. I'm super low energy, which it just works. It works in real life. It works on film.”
The virtual press conference included Momoa, Bautista, the movie’s director Ángel Manuel Soto and moderator Alex Zane. It was streamed from London, England, for the United Kingdom’s premiere of “The Wrecking Crew.”
If character introductions in the movie give a glimpse of each actor’s role, we first see James (Bautista) effortlessly floating under water in a pool where he is training cadets to hold their breaths. The cadets are holding weights to stay submerged and keep dropping those weights to float to the surface for air until only Bautista remains, serene and underwater.
The introduction scene for Jonny (Momoa) is a bit different. He is on a motorcycle flying down a rural road and gets home to see his girlfriend packing the car because she is breaking up with him.
After working together in “See,” Bautista had wanted to do another production with Momoa that was more of a buddy cop film.
“So anyway, I tweeted one night: I want to do a buddy cop film with Jason Momoa, something like ʻLethal Weapon.’ I want David Lee to direct it. This is before I knew you,” he said of Ángel Manuel Soto, the movie’s director seated to his right. “But anyway, that was my tweet. And it exploded! It got more response than anything I've ever tweeted, which has been mostly garbage, just random thoughts. But anyway, people responded. So I called Jason. I was like: ʻHey, man, I want you to know about this because it is getting such a response, I probably should let you know and make sure you even want to do this. And he said, ʻYeah, actually, I already got an idea.’ And so basically his idea was pretty much the foundation of what the film is.”
“The Wrecking Crew” stars several actors who appear in “Chief of War,” including Momoa, who was Kaʻiana, Temuera Morrison, who played King Kahekili, and Roimata Fox, who portrayed Taula.
It also features actors from Disney’s live action version of “Lilo & Stitch” (2025), including Maia Kealoha, who was Lilo, and David Hekili Kenui Bell, who makes an appearance with shave ice, and died just after the movie's release. "The Wrecking Crew" also features Frankie Adams, who stars in Disney’s live action movie “Moana,” set to release this year, as Moana’s mother.
“The Wrecking Crew” has multiple fight scenes, of course, including a notable one between Baustista and Momoa that involves rain, mud, a parked car and some blood.
“This was the most fun I've ever had on a film, throughout my career,” Bautista said. “Moments like that, they sound awful, but we were having a great time beating the hell out of each other, but also we were jumping in a hot tub between takes.”
The group laughed.
“And we got to shoot in New Zealand and Hawaiʻi,” Bautista added. “It was awesome. We had to ride motorcycles in Hawaiʻi. It was great.”
What does Momoa hope audiences take away from the film?
“It's definitely up there as one of the funnest films I've ever made in my life,” he said. “I had the time of my life. I don't [usually] watch the premieres over and over. I've seen this movie five times now. I'm still laughing. I'm excited to watch it tonight. ... And I'm actually having a little private viewing for my kids, because we're very mad that it's not playing in theaters because they just love it.”
The movie leaves room for a possible sequel, as their father’s murder is solved, but another remains open.
"The Wrecking Crew" will go live at 10 p.m. on Jan. 27 on Amazon Prime. See the full cast for the movie here.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
