Kauai, the Motion Picture Capitol of the South Pacific...
By Michael Huffman

...for almost 75 years, the Garden Isle has been the location of choice for more than 55 feature films!

Beginning in 1933, Lois Weber filmed "Cane Fire" which was later re-named "White Heat" in Waimea.  This was followed by such famous films as "South Pacific," "Donovan's Reef,"  "Blue Hawaii,"  "Raiders of the Lost Ark,"  "WaterWorld,"  and all three "Jurassic Park"  films.  Yet, after considerable film activity on the island especially in the 1990s ("Outbreak," "6 Days/7 Nights," "Jurassic Park,") major film production slowed to a stand-still. The last major motion picture was 2002's "Dragonfly"  starring Kevin Costner.

Although the island has continued to enjoy a steady stream of smaller projects, including television shows, commercials, videos, documentaries and still photo projects. There is nothing that generates more attention and revenue like a major motion picture.

DreamWorks Pictures and Red Hour Films have brought the production of the big budget ($100 million) comedy "Tropic Thunder" to the island this summer with principle photography having started on July 16th. This film is directed by Ben Stiller who has a home on Kauai, will also star in it along with Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Tom Cruise, Jay Baruchel, Bill Hader, Justin Therox, Andrea de Oliviera, and will be the first major studio production on Kauai in more than five years. Whereas previous Hollywood productions are completed in days or weeks, "Tropic Thunder" is set to make Kauai its home for at least four months. With pre-production, set construction and post-production clean-ups, the crew may be on the island for more than 10 months.

A large number of Kauai's locals will end up on the big screen. There are about 600 of Kauai's residents playing Vietnamese villagers. Described as "a movie within a movie," the film's comedic plot follows a group of actors who go on location to shoot ?the greatest Vietnam War movie ever made," when a freak series of events forces the talent to become the soldiers they set out to portray. Kauai will once again relive its role as a lush and verdant Vietnam. A part it has played before in such films as "Flight of the Intruder," "Uncommon Valor,"and the 2003 independent film "Missing Brendan."

This is not the only project considering Kauai as the prime location. Rumor has it that the production companies for the fourth installment of "Indiana Jones" and "Jurassic Park IV" have been scouting the island. The script for the big screen adaptation of local teen surfer Bethany Hamilton's autobiography "Soul Surfer" has been given the a green light, and producer Roy Hofstetter said that filming could begin this summer as well with as much as a third of the movie shot on Kauai.