Believe it or not the lush island of Kaua’i plays New York City in Dreamworks new film “The Time Machine.” The movie is a remake of the 1960 classic “The Time Machine” but is set in New York City, rather
Believe it or not the lush island of Kaua’i plays New York City in Dreamworks new film “The Time Machine.”
The movie is a remake of the 1960 classic “The Time Machine” but is set in New York City, rather than the London of Victorian science fiction writer H. G. Wells’s original novel upon which both films are based.
The PG-13 film is currently ranked number one at the box office nationwide and is showing at Kukui Grove Cinema.
“This is the first time Kaua’i is portraying New York City,” said Judy Drosd, Kaua’i Film Commissioner.
Drosd said a visual effects crew from Industrial Light & Magic in Northern California traveled to Kaua’i to shoot background scenes for the film. The “plates” created from the crew’s footage served as a backdrop for computer graphics effects overlays.
Watch for glimpses of Kaua’i as the time machine moves forward 800,000 years into the future, Drosd said. That’s how New York City is turned into Kaua’i, she said, as Wells story portrays the future as a Eden-like tropical wonderland with a dark side.
The IL&M filmmakers shot on Kaua’i from August 6-10, 2001, Drosd said, and were directed by David Valdes from Dreamworks. They employed a 35mm movie camera and took ground and aerial footage. K. K. Greenlee of Kaua’i served as location manager.
“It’s hard to tell exactly what they shot,” Drosd said. “You get a sense of the landscape, but each shot is an amalgam of a number of different visuals. The scenes are incredibly beautiful, an extraordinary use of special visual effects.”
Locations used as the basis for the computer graphics-generated scenes include the Huleia River, the Blue Hole below Wai’ale’ale Crater, lower Wainiha Valley and Rice Ranch at Kipu. Sweeping aerials of Kaua’i landscapes were also used and filmed from a helicopter mount.
“Time Machine” is directed by Simon Wells (The Prince of Egypt), a descendent of Time Machine’s author H.G. Wells, and Gore Verbinski (The Mexican). Stars in the film include Jeremy Irons, Yancey Arias and Guy Pearce.
“Time Machine” is a Dreamworks and Warner Bros. joint release, and Dreamworks is the producer of the film.
For a preview of “Time Machine” and more information about the movie go to www.countingdown.com/timemachine.
