The Pacific (HBO/Channel Seven's new drama series)!!

[Jazer]

PRODUCTION BEGINS ON THE PACIFIC,

HBO FILMS’ EPIC TEN-HOUR MINISERIES EVENT TELLING THE STORY OF

U.S. MARINES IN THE PACIFIC THEATER OF WORLD WAR II

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Five-time Emmy® Nominee Tim Van Patten To Direct Episode One

Miniseries Films In Australia’s Far North Queensland and Melbourne

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Production will begin August 13 in Australia on THE PACIFIC, it was announced today

by Colin Callender, president, HBO Films. Shooting through mid-2008, the epic ten-hour

miniseries is executive produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, the

creative team behind the Emmy®-winning 2001 HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.”

THE PACIFIC is produced by HBO Films in association with Playtone and

DreamWorks Television. It is a co-production with Channel Seven in Australia. The production

is based at Melbourne Central City Studios in Melbourne, Victoria, with filming taking place in

and around Melbourne, where U.S. troops camped in 1943, and multiple locations in Far North

Queensland. Kary Antholis, senior vice president, HBO Films, is the executive in charge of the

project. THE PACIFIC is scheduled to debut on HBO and Channel Seven in 2009.

The miniseries tracks the intertwined odysseys of three U.S. Marines – Robert Leckie

(played by James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda)

– across the vast canvas of the Pacific. The extraordinary experiences of these men and their

fellow Marines take them from the first clash with the Japanese in the haunted jungles of

Guadalcanal, through the impenetrable rain forests of Cape Gloucester, across the blasted

coral strongholds of Peleliu, up the black sand terraces of Iwo Jima, through the killing fields of

Okinawa, to the triumphant, yet uneasy, return home after V-J Day.

Five-time Emmy®-nominee Tim Van Patten (HBO’s “The Sopranos”) will direct

Episode One. Writers and additional directors will be announced as they are confirmed.

THE PACIFIC – 2

In addition to James Badge Dale (“The Departed”), Joe Mazzello (“Without a Trace”)

and Jon Seda (“Kevin Hill”), actors featured in THE PACIFIC include (in alphabetical order)

Akos Armont, Joshua Biton (“National Treasure”), Adam Booth (“Doctors”), Simon Bossell

(“Hotel de Love”), Laurence Breuls (“Ghost Rider”), Tom Budge (“Last Train to Freo”), Linda

Cropper (“McLeod’s Daughters”), Brendan Fletcher (“Tideland”), Eamon Farren (“The

Outsider”), Leon Ford (HBO’s “Tsunami: The Aftermath”), Daniel Frederiksen (“Stingers”),

Scott Gibson (“Lucky Number Slevin”), Joshua Helman, Ashton Holmes (“A History of

Violence”), Andrew Lees, Rami Malek (“The War at Home”), Martin McCann (“Closing the

Ring”), Ian Meadows (“Home and Away”), Toby Moore (“Joanne Lees: Murder in the

Outback”), Rohan Nichol (“All Saints”), Henry Nixon (“Happy Feet”), Keith Nobbs (“The Black

Donnellys”), Annie Parisse (“Law & Order”), Sam Parsonson (“Love My Way”), Jacob Pitts

(“The Novice”), Rupert Reid (“The Matrix Reloaded”), Mitch Ryan, William Sadler (“The

Shawshank Redemption”), Gary Sweet, Anna Torv (“Young Lions”), Sandy Winton (“Two

Twisted”), Dylan Young and Ashley Zukerman. Additional actors will be announced as they

are confirmed.

THE PACIFIC is based on the books “With the Old Breed,” by Eugene Sledge, which

was hailed by historian Paul Fussell as “one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war,”

and “Helmet for My Pillow,” by Robert Leckie (recipient of the Marine Corps Combat

Correspondents Annual Award), as well as original interviews conducted by the filmmakers.

Continuing the World War II oral history work begun by his father Stephen E. Ambrose (author

of the book “Band of Brothers”), Hugh Ambrose serves as a consultant on the miniseries.

THE PACIFIC is produced by HBO Films in association with Playtone and

DreamWorks Television; executive producers, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Gary Goetzman;

co-executive producers, Tony To, Graham Yost; supervising producer, Bruce McKenna;

producer, Gene Kelly; co-producers, Robert Schenkkan, George P. Pelecanos, Michelle

Ashford; directors of photography, Remi Adefarasin, BSC and Steve Windon; production

designer, Anthony Pratt; WWII consultant, Hugh Ambrose; military advisor, Capt. Dale Dye;

U.S. casting, Meg Liberman; Australian casting, Christine King.ific

Looks like this could be a great drama series, but its a shame we have to wait until 2009 to watch it. Also its great to see Ian involved with this production as its totally different to Home & Away!!

[emmasi]

Wow... that thing sounds huge! Even if Ian only has a bit part... wow! . He's credited already, so hopefully it'll be a fairly substantial role. He's an awesome actor, and it's near criminal that Rocco had to be killed off H&A... Maybe there's a long-lost Cooper twin out there somewhere...

[loveangelmusicbaby]

Wow what a big role! I loved his acting on Home and away. Let's hope it is a big hit in the US when it airs. Ian can get more exposure then. Pretty good that his first big major role is being exectutive produced by Steven and Tom! Good on him I say.