KOLOA — About 200 extras are needed this week to flesh out scenes for the Kaua’i-made film “To End All Wars.” Cast and crew are about midway through location filming of the World War II Japanese prisoner of war camp
KOLOA — About 200 extras are needed this week to flesh out scenes for the
Kaua’i-made film “To End All Wars.”
Cast and crew are about midway through
location filming of the World War II Japanese prisoner of war camp film set in
Thailand.
Angela Tillson of Kauai Casting said 100 extras are needed on
Monday, 150 on Tuesday, and 200 on Thursday and Friday.
“We’re Looking for
Caucasian, Korean and Japanese slender-built men, ages 18-45,” Tillson said.
“We will provide hair cuts, costumes and lunch.”
She said visitors as well
as local residents are invited to act as prisoners of war, and as prison guards
in the film, which is being directed by David Cunningham and stars the actors
Robert Carlyle and Kiefer Sutherland. Recent high school and college graduates
are being invited to work in the film.
The Kaua’i extras are joining a
multi-national cast made up of actors brought in from Japan, Great Britain and
California.
Tillson said to help entice extras to the set a raffle for a
valuable prize will be held on the set on both Thursday and Friday. Only extras
will be given a chance in the raffle.
“There’s glamour and excitement, and
there’s a good chance you’ll see yourself on screen,” Tillson said. “Breakfast
and lunch provided, and the meals are being catered by Coco’s Cafe.”
Extras
meet at a staging area in Koloa each filming day.
Tillson said anyone
interested in being an extra can call 822-7068 to sign up.
Associate
producer Enock Freire said nighttime filming wrapped up last week, and now the
filmmakers are focusing on all-day shooting of a mocked-up POW camp set deep in
valley mauka of Koloa town.
“We’re trying to recreate the atmosphere of the
original camps that had 200 to several thousand POWs,” Freire said.
He
said the scenes coming up this week are critical to the look of the film, and
the filmmakers are going all out to make the scenes look authentic.
Freire
said in addition to appearing in the film, extras supporting the lead actors
will be honoring the memory of the tens of thousands of Allied POWs who
suffered while being used by the Japanese Army to build railroads in Southeast
Asia.
He said because the film is being independently made extras also have
a chance to play more of a role in the film then they would in a major
Hollywood feature being filmed on location here.
“Many of the extras have
been coming consistently, some are in reaction scenes. A death, a beating, at
times much more pleasant things.” He said one recently filmed scene featured a
play put on in the camp by the prisoners. “Some of the background extras were
filmed exploring the emotions that would cause, hearing classical instruments
for the first time after two and a half years in the camp. Some are assigned to
be patients in the hospital. Others are working with the tools on the
railroad.”
“All the things they are doing are not superfluous, but
essential to the ambiance of the film,” Freire said.
He said overall the
Kaua’i filming “is going excellent.”
“We’re getting incredible dailies
back from the labs in L.A., and we’re happy with the performance, set dressing
and cinematographer. There has been some real bullseye in those type of
areas.”
Freire said Kaua’i filming is being extended three days, and is now
scheduled to end on Wednesday, June 28.
“We’re keeping the schedule on
time, and shooting one less day of night shoots then predicted.”
He said
the extra days are being added to film footage of scenes added to the
screenplay since arriving on Kaua’i.
Stills and video clips from the
filming are being regularly posted at ToEndAllWars.com, the official Web site
of the production. Freire said support for the Web site is being provided on
Kaua’i by Peter Heckmann, the webmaster of travel-kauai.com.
The film is
expected to be released by Christmas. The film company is based at the SunSpree
Holiday Inn at Wailua.
