Blockbuster films and award-winning television series have long made filming in Hawaiʻi part of their productions. Now, “On Location in Hawaiʻi,” chronicles some of those spots on Hawaiʻi Island, Oʻahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lānai in a book set to release in August. Written by Ed Rampell and Luis Reyes, the 216-page book features movies filmed at places across the state.
“We go all the way from ʻCharlie Chan [in Honolulu]’ to the T-Rex in ʻJurassic Park’ to ʻGodzilla’ and all the way up to the live-action ʻMoana,’ ” Rampell said.
The live action “Moana,” which just opened in theaters on Friday, July 10, stars Catherine Lagaʻaia as Moana and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the demigod, Maui.
“They shot scenes at Pōkaʻi Bay,” Rampell said. “And that's in our book.”
“On Location in Hawaiʻi” is set to release at the end of August and sells for $21.95. The book will be sold at Kualoa Ranch’s gift store, as well as local book shops, including Da Shop and BookEnds on Oʻahu; Basically Books and Kona Stories on Hawaiʻi Island; and Talk Story Bookstore on Kauaʻi. Preorder it now. It includes a foreward by actress Tia Carrere, who was born and raised in Honolulu.
The authors previously wrote three books published by Honolulu-based Mutual Publishing: “Made in Paradise: Hollywood’s Films of Hawai‘i and the South Seas” (1995), “Pearl Harbor in the Movies” (2001), and “The Hawai‘i Movie and Television Book” (2013). Reyes is a co-host and guest programmer for "Turner Classic Movies" and the annual Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival in Hollywood.
Rampell is a journalist who has spent more than 20 years living in French Polynesia, Samoa, Micronesia and Hawaiʻi, and has visited more than 100 Pacific Islands, he said. On Oʻahu, he lived in Mākaha for more than a decade.
Ahead of the book’s release, Rampell spoke with Aloha State Daily about film history, the writing process, and the first movie he ever saw: “South Pacific,” which was filmed on Kauaʻi.
What inspired you to write this book? When I was a little boy, and I saw my first movie, “South Pacific,” I said to myself, 'When I grow up, I'm going to go there. I'm going to have an Islander girlfriend, and I'm going to get involved with movies.' My older sister has said that I'm one of the very few people she has ever met in her whole life who did what they said [they would do] when they were a kid.
Did accomplish all three goals? Yes, and in some cases, many times over.
What did the writing process look like? Luis Reyes and I are both film historians, and we're both from another island: New York. And we have a lot in common as fellow New Yorkers who went to the Pacific Islands and have film backgrounds. This is the fourth Hawaiʻi film / TV history book Luis and I have done together for Mutual Publishing of Honolulu since 1995, so it's over 30 years of collaborating together. ... Luis and I worked on this book “On Location in Hawaiʻi” in the following way: He is an excellent researcher. ... I would edit his text, and then I would add my own particular memories and insights to the raw material that Luis provided.
What trends are you seeing with travel today? This is a developing film-related business trend, which BBC did an entire half-hour report on for their "Talking Movies" program, and they use the term called “set jetting,” and that's a clever play on the phrase “jet setter.” And “set jetting” is a growing travel trend where visitors fly or sail to destinations in order to see with their own eyes where their favorite films and TV shows were shot on location. ... As part of this trend, according to the BBC, not only are tourists traveling abroad in order to see locations, but also to attend film festivals, such as the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival or the Wailuku Film Festival. People might say, 'OK, let's go to Hawaiʻi and during the day I'll hit the surf, and then at night I'll hit the cinema and go attend a film festival.'
Which Islands are featured in the book? Oʻahu is the No. 1 island, but in steep competition with Hawaiʻi [Island] for how many films have shot on location there. Those are the two main locations, but you also have many films over the years that have been made on Maui, Lānai and Molokai. In our book, I made it a point to single out Indigenous, Native Hawaiian and local filmmakers, and to point out where their films have been made on location in Hawaiʻi. People like Ciara Lacy, for example. Ciara made a documentary about the struggle involving the TMT telescope on the Big Island. And our book ends with two films that are made on location in Molokai. One of them is a short film called “Hawaiian Soul,” which of course is a beautiful song. ... “Hawaiian Soul” is about George Helm and as some of our readers will remember, George Helm was one of the early Hawaiian sovereignty activists involved in the Protect Kahoʻolawe movement, and he was lost at sea mysteriously. ... “Hawaiian Soul” is just begging to be expanded into a full-length feature film, and I hope that happens, as it did for the Molokai movie called “Molokai Bound,” by Alika Tengen. ... That started as a short film that went on the film festival circuit, and “Molokai Bound" was able to use that proof of concept short in order to expand into a full-length feature film that was co-produced by the Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker.
What are some of your favorite movie locations mentioned in the book? I'm very partial for sentimental reasons to Hanalei Bay on Kauaʻi, where a lot of “South Pacific” [was filmed and] where the plantation, for example, was shot at Lumaha’i Beach [and] where Mitzi Gaynor tried to wash that Emile de Becque planter guy out of her hair. ... But my very favorite would be locations on Oʻahu, particularly near where I lived for so long, at my beloved Mākaha. Just a few miles north of Mākaha, they shot movies at Makua Beach, such as the Julie Andrews 1966 epic called “Hawaiʻi.” But maybe my very favorite of all is Hālona [Blowhole] cove, where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr made out as the waves are surging upon them in the “From Here to Eternity” 1953 classic, which won more Academy Awards than any other film in history that was shot on location in Hawaiʻi. ... What a great movie “From Here to Eternity” is. And of course it was also shot at Scofield Barracks, and there's a museum there that pays homage, among other things, to the movie “From Here to Eternity” based on the great best-selling novel by James Jones, who was a dogface [or enlisted U.S. Army infantryman] stationed at Schofield Barrack and witnessed the Dec. 7, 1941, aerial attack on Oʻahu.
Where can people buy it? Right now, it is available for pre-order if you go to mutualpublishing.com. ... But in terms of where it's going to be sold, there are two editions. One is sponsored by Kualoa Ranch. And Kualoa Ranch is the No. 1 single location in all of the Hawaiian Islands for movies, going back to the Henry Fonda classic made around 1950 called “Mister Roberts,” in which Duke Kahanamoku is actually in that film as a chief. ... You can still go there and see the cattle and the horses and the paniolos [at Kualoa Ranch]. They allowed films such as “Jurassic Park,” “Godzilla,” “George of the Jungle,” “50 First Dates” with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler — who just officiated over the marriage of Taylor Swift of all things at Madison Square [to film there]. They have opened it up for not only filmmakers to shoot there, but also they offer wonderful guided tours. There's more than one different guided tour around Kualoa Ranch, where you could see Godzilla's footprint. Kualoa Ranch also has a movie museum, which chronicles films that have been shot there, and there's dozens of them over the decades.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
