thedrifter
08-17-07, 03:22 PM
Fight them on TV beach
Peter Michael
August 18, 2007 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5615708,00.jpg
Hit the beach: "marines" storm a beach near Port Douglas yesterday for a Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' TV series. Picture: Brian Cassey
WAVE upon wave they stormed the beach.
In a series of spectacular battle scenes for the $100 million World War II mini-series The Pacific, about 160 "US marines" yesterday burst out of landing craft and attacked a beach north of Port Douglas.
They surged out of five original flat-bottomed American assault boats into a hail of imaginary bullets and bombs to recreate a battle in the Pacific in World War II.
Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are producing the 10-part series on three US marines.
The 600-strong cast and crew will begin shooting in Melbourne at the beginning of next year.
It's believed Channel 7 paid about $600,000 an episode as a local production partner in the hopes the series will help them win the ratings war.
The Pacific is the sequel to the blockbuster TV series Band of Brothers.
Bomb craters and barbed wire-protected machinegun pits have been dug in the far north Queensland beach.
Shredded plastic coconut trees along the shoreline add to the authenticity.
Shell casings and Japanese Imperial Army paraphernalia are also strewn around the landing site while a small army of Japanese extras have been in boot camp.
Rocky Point residents yesterday told of waking to the blood-curdling screams of an invasion.
"It's not too bad," said local Angela Pringle, who lives just metres from the beachfront film set.
"If I close my windows I can't hear the bombs or screams or anything," she said.
Location manager Nick Daubeny said special attention had been paid to details.
"The minute we lose the authenticity, the suspension leaves the viewers and I think that's what really made Band of Brothers," he said.
The beach landings simulate the battle for Guadacanal and the coral strongholds of Peleliu.
"These were some of the bloodiest and most pitched battles of the war," he said.
"We wanted to recreate as closely as we could the rat-infested, rain-drenched hell holes of these battles."
The production is predicted to inject about $60 million into the local economy and create more than a thousand jobs.
A mini-city of trucks, caravans, marquees and site offices have been set up on the beach -- and at another site in the rainforest -- for the big-budget production.
The mini-series, which is based on the books With The Old Breed (Eugene Sledge) and Helmet For My Pillow (Robert Leckie), tracks the intertwined odysseys of three US marines -- Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge -- across the vast battlefield of the Pacific.
Ellie
Peter Michael
August 18, 2007 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5615708,00.jpg
Hit the beach: "marines" storm a beach near Port Douglas yesterday for a Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' TV series. Picture: Brian Cassey
WAVE upon wave they stormed the beach.
In a series of spectacular battle scenes for the $100 million World War II mini-series The Pacific, about 160 "US marines" yesterday burst out of landing craft and attacked a beach north of Port Douglas.
They surged out of five original flat-bottomed American assault boats into a hail of imaginary bullets and bombs to recreate a battle in the Pacific in World War II.
Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are producing the 10-part series on three US marines.
The 600-strong cast and crew will begin shooting in Melbourne at the beginning of next year.
It's believed Channel 7 paid about $600,000 an episode as a local production partner in the hopes the series will help them win the ratings war.
The Pacific is the sequel to the blockbuster TV series Band of Brothers.
Bomb craters and barbed wire-protected machinegun pits have been dug in the far north Queensland beach.
Shredded plastic coconut trees along the shoreline add to the authenticity.
Shell casings and Japanese Imperial Army paraphernalia are also strewn around the landing site while a small army of Japanese extras have been in boot camp.
Rocky Point residents yesterday told of waking to the blood-curdling screams of an invasion.
"It's not too bad," said local Angela Pringle, who lives just metres from the beachfront film set.
"If I close my windows I can't hear the bombs or screams or anything," she said.
Location manager Nick Daubeny said special attention had been paid to details.
"The minute we lose the authenticity, the suspension leaves the viewers and I think that's what really made Band of Brothers," he said.
The beach landings simulate the battle for Guadacanal and the coral strongholds of Peleliu.
"These were some of the bloodiest and most pitched battles of the war," he said.
"We wanted to recreate as closely as we could the rat-infested, rain-drenched hell holes of these battles."
The production is predicted to inject about $60 million into the local economy and create more than a thousand jobs.
A mini-city of trucks, caravans, marquees and site offices have been set up on the beach -- and at another site in the rainforest -- for the big-budget production.
The mini-series, which is based on the books With The Old Breed (Eugene Sledge) and Helmet For My Pillow (Robert Leckie), tracks the intertwined odysseys of three US marines -- Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge -- across the vast battlefield of the Pacific.
Ellie