BY MIKE GORDON / mgordon@staradvertiser.com
The most storied giant lizard in movie history will be spending some time in Hawaii this summer.
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures confirmed Monday, June 3, what local actors, hopeful extras and industry insiders have been whispering about for months: The latest remake of the “Godzilla” franchise will be filming in July at several Oahu locations.
This comes a day after nearly 2,000 people answered a casting call for extras in Kakaako for a film that was never officially identified.
Hawaii will portray itself in the film and substitute for other locations, according to studio officials. The film has been shooting in Vancouver, British Columbia, since March 18 under British director Gareth Edwards.
And while productions don’t usually identify themselves in a public way during filming, “Godzilla” shouldn’t be too hard to spot, said Donne Dawson, Hawaii film commissioner.
“They’ll be filming in some very public places,” she said. “The public will have no problem observing filming activity. It is not going to be hidden away in the jungle.”
But don’t go looking for any monster-size props for the creature that has starred in 30 films dating back to 1954, including a 1998 version starring Matthew Broderick which shot on Kauai and Oahu. The new Godzilla will be a computer-generated leviathan.
“They will be doing a lot of shooting with a lot of people,” Dawson said. “It’s probably not going to be evident from the shooting what is actually going to take place on the screen.”
The latest reboot of “Godzilla,” due to reach theater screens in May, stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Savages”), Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai”), Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”), David Strathairn (“Good Night and Good Luck”) and Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”).
Edwards, who impressed audiences with his 2010 film “Monsters,” will direct the film from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabonte and Dave Callaham.