BY MIKE GORDON / mgordon@staradvertiser.com
Sony Pictures Television is busy shooting the new ABC drama “Last Resort” at various Oahu locations, including Kualoa Ranch.
The ranch has served as the lush backdrop for numerous film and television proejcts, from ABC’s “Lost” to the feature film “Soul Surfer.” Somehow, each production manages to capture a different vista.
Andre Braugher. (Courtesy ABC)
During a recent set visit I caught up with some of the show’s principle stars — Andre Braugher, Scott Speedman, Robert Patrick and Daniel Lissing — and they’re thoughtful, friendly and excited to be working in Hawaii.
Their show is hard to describe. In fact, even Lissing said he’s had a tough time putting it into a single sentence when friends have asked. The drama follows the crew of the ballistic missile submarine USS Colorado after they’ve been attacked by their own country because they refused to blast Pakistan with nuclear missiles. They declare themselves a small, but powerfully armed country that isn’t afraid to pull the trigger.
Watching Braugher at work was a treat. He plays Marcus Chaplin, the captain of the Colorado. When the cameras are rolling, he’s completely in charge of the moment.
Long time fans will remember Braugher as Det. Frank Pembleton on “Homicide: Life On the Street,” a role that earned him an Emmy Award in 1998. But his recent role as Owen Thoreau Jr. in “Men of a Certain Age” earned Emmy nominations in 2010 and 2011. (I told him I missed Thoreau. He said he did, too.)
Meeting Patrick was a chicken-skin moment. He’s made a career out of playing gruff, strong characters — and he has a handshake like a human vice — but it’s impossible to forget him as a Terminator in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
“Last Resort” turned a shady area of Kualoa Ranch into a run-down island village, complete with 40 background extras playing villagers and Navy personnel.
But the show needs more people, according to Katie Doyle, who handles extras casting for “Last Resort.” To that end, the show will hold an open casting call from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19, at the state’s Diamond Head Studios, 510 18th Ave.
The show is looking for a range of character types: military personnel (men and women, 18-30), Polynesians (men and women, all ages), African Americans (men and women, 18-60), pale haoles (men and women, all ages), “beautiful/handsome model types” (men and women, 18-50) and “upscale and/exotic women — all types.”
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Mike Gordon covers film and television in Hawaii for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Email him at mgordon@staradvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his weekly “Outtakes” column Sundays in the Star-Advertiser.