HBO Sends Trio to 'Pacific'
'24' vet James Badge Dale among leads
June 11, 2007

HBO has enlisted three actors for lead roles in its miniseries "The Pacific," which will chronicle the Pacific theater of World War II.

Former "24" co-star James Badge Dale, Val Lauren and Joe Mazzello will play the three Marines at the center of the 10-hour saga, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Filming is scheduled to begin in August in Australia.

The miniseries, based in part on books by WWII veterans Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie, is a companion piece for HBO's "Band of Brothers," which centered on the European theater from D-Day until the end of the war. "Band of Brothers" executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are doing the same jobs for "The Pacific," as are co-exec producer Tony To and writer-producer Graham Yost.

Dale will play Leckie in the project, with Mazzello taking the role of Sledge and Lauren playing fellow Marine John Basilone. The miniseries will follow their stories from the first engagement with Japanese forces at Guadalcanal through the intense fighting at places like Iwo Jima and Okinawa and their return home after V-J Day in 1945.

Dale is probably best known as CTU agent Chase Edmunds from the third season of "24." He's also done guest spots on "The Black Donnellys" and "Rescue Me" and earlier this year starred in the NBC pilot "Fort Pit."

Mazzello's credits include "Jurassic Park," "Simon Birch" and "Raising Helen." Lauren has appeared on "24" (in a different season than Dale), "Crossing Jordan" and "Criminal Minds" and in the HBO movie "Live from Baghdad."

Ellie