HONOLULU — Every nook and cranny of this city in fact, the whole island! serves as setting for Hawaii Five-O (the “O” actually stands for zero, thus 50, Hawaii being the 50th state of America) which is being revived by CBS and has premiered at 14.213 million viewers in the US recently (the show began airing at 9 p.m. on AXN in the Philippines last Sunday, Nov. 14).
The journalists from Asia invited to interview the stars of the new series (based on the orginal Hawaii Five-O created by Leonard Freeman; and executive produced by Peter Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci) were taken on a tour for two afternoons, making stops at famous spots where the scenes are regularly shot: Iolani Palace, the mythical home of the Hawaii-based crime-fighting force; Ilikai Hotel, on the top floor of which Jack Lord can be seen at the beginning of each episode; Diamond Head, the crater of which was supposed to be the location of the intelligence command center where McGarrett met with Jonathan Kaye in “The Jinn Who Clears the Way”; Aloha Tower, the center of attention in more than one episode; the HPD Honolulu Headquarters; and a warehouse where the series’ Christmas special (Episode 11) was being shot.
The stars of the original Hawaii Five-O are all gone — Jack Lord who played the iconic crime-buster Steve McGarrett, James MacArthur (son of the legendary Helen Hayes, First Lady of Theater) as Dan Williams, Kam Fong as Chin Ho and Al Harrington as Ben. After the quick tour, we stopped for snacks at a coffee shop at a mall in Kahala, in front of which is a statue of Jack Lord with these words engraved on it: Jack Lord, 1920-1998, Artist, Actor and Philantrophist, Star of the legendary police drama Hawaii Five-O on CBS-TV from 1968-1980. He loved the sea, these islands and their people. He will always be remembered.
Hawaii Five-O is a contemporary take on the classic series about a new elite federalized task force whose mission is to wipe out the crime that washes up on the Islands' sun-drenched beaches. Detective Steve McGarrett, a decorated Naval officer-turned-cop, returns to Oahu to investigate his father's murder and stays after Hawaii's Governor persuades him to head the new team with full-blanket authority to hunt down the biggest "game" in town. Joining McGarrett is Detective Danny "Danno" Williams, a newly relocated ex-New Jersey cop — a working man in paradise who prefers skyscrapers to the coastline but who's committed to keeping the Islands safe for his eight-year-old daughter; and Chin Ho Kelly, an ex-Honolulu Police Detective, and former protégé of McGarrett's father, wrongly accused of corruption and relegated to a federal security patrol. Chin's cousin, Kono Kalakaua, is a beautiful and fearless native, fresh out of the academy and eager to establish herself among the department's elite. McGarrett, repairing his relationship with his estranged sister Mary Ann, vows to bring closure to their father's case. The state's brash new FIVE-O unit, who may spar and jest among themselves, is determined to eliminate seedy elements from the 50th state.
Meet the stars of Hawaii Five-O now:
• Alex O’Loughlin (last seen in the Hollywood romance-comedy The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez and well-loved as Mick St. John in the CBS vampire drama Moonlight) reprising the role of Steve McGarrett;
• Scott Caan (James Caan’s actor-writer-director son, recently seen in the Ocean’s 11 trilogy) as McGarrett’s sidekick Danny “Danno” Williams;
• Daniel Dae Kim (the Korean-born actor raised in New York who plays Jin in the hit TV series Lost) as Chin Ho Kelly; and
• Grace Park (of Battlestar Gallactica) as Kono Kalakaua, the new character in the series.
(Trivia: Did you know that Nanette Medved’s mother did a guest role in the original Hawaii Five-O as, if memory serves, the secretary of McGarrett?)
Before I flew to this city, I watched again and again on DVD the first six episodes of the new series (and, later, six episodes of the original one), and I was intrigued by Episode 5 in which the Philippines figures prominently. The plot revolves around a US ambassador (fictional) to the Philippines who is kidnapped by a Hawaii-based terrorist group that accuses the US of siphoning the supposedly financial aid for “climate-change-related” projects into the buying arms for the Philippine military fighting side by side with American soldiers against terrorists. A controversial episode, I should say, and I wonder how the US and the Philippines will react to it, fiction though it may be.
For two mornings, the invited journalists had separate interviews with the four stars (and with producer Peter Lenkov, but more on him in a future issue) at a suite in The Edition Hotel which is located a stone’s throw from the Ilikai Hotel from the penthouse balcony of which Jack Lord was photographed for the show’s opening credits.
Here are excerpts:
Are you old enough to have seen the original Hawaii Five-O?
Alex: I remember it a little bit. I’ve seen a couple of episodes a long time ago. It was a very different show. It was a very different time in television. Back then, TV-acting was quite stylized. Now, we have the capacity to bring special effects and dynamic action to the screen that they didn’t have back then. So, it’s the perfect time to bring back the show. Hawaii Five-O now is much faster, much more aggressive.
Scott: I never watched it. All I remember is the song.
Daniel: When the first Hawaii Five-O was airing, I was then a young boy in New York City so I was 5,000 miles away from here. My memories of the show are vague. I remember the theme song and I remember Jack Lord’s big hair. Beyond that, when I got the job I watched a few episodes as part of my research. But I understand that the original Five-O did a lot of tourism for the island.
Grace: I don’t ever remember watching it. There’s a drink called Hawaiian Punch and I mix it up with Hawaii Five-O.
How different is your role from that of the original?
Alex: Jack Lord’s Steve McGarrett was a man without a past. He was the man on the job was once he had the job done for the governor, that was that. My Steve McGarrett has a big part. You learn more about him as the series progresses. There’s a lot of character stuff. My Steve McGarrett is preoccupied with finding out the circumstances behind his father’s murder even as he and his team are confronted with the task of solving other crimes. My Steve McGarrett is rigid in the sense that he’s got a military background and, in the larger sense, because he’s the hero of the story and a hero can’t break parameters; he has to stay within certain heroic bounds. When you cross that line, you become something else.
Daniel: I think it’s very different. The original Chin Ho was not as integral to the action as this new Chin Ho is. I’m very grateful that he’s part of the fabric of the theme and that he’s more involved than he was in the original.
(To Daniel) Lost was also set in Hawaii. How different was working on it and working on Hawaii Five-O?
Daniel: One of the major differences is that Lost was shot in areas of the island that were really remote and we were never close to civilization, Hawaii Five-O is shot mainly in the city of Honolulu, so we’re not fighting all day and all night with mosquitoes and centipedes. Lost had such a big cast so we took turns in working hard. In Hawaii Five-O, there are only four of us in the cast so we are working together very hard all the time.
(To Alex) It must be fun playing a hero.
Alex: I’m not very good at playing the hero; I play an anti-hero really well.
(To Grace) Did you know that there’s a place in the Philippines called Grace Park?
Grace: Oh, that’s funny! Many people mistake me for a Filipina. I’ve been to the Philippines for pleasure. I went to Boracay, Manila and El Nido (in Palawan).
(To Grace) You’ve been chosen one of FHM magazine’s “100 Sexiest Women in the World” and one of Maxim magazine’s “Hot 100.” How did you feel about that?
Grace: Oh, initially I thought they were crazy! (Laughs)
(To Grace) How did you get that kind of body?
Grace: I thank my mom and dad for it.
How has your stay in Hawaii been so far?
Alex: It has been a pretty easy adjustment. Nobody wears any clothes. Sun shining. Beautiful women. Good food. The sense of community here is really wonderful which is very much like in Australia and which I miss when I’m in Los Angeles. The people here are very much like my people. So it kind of feels like home.
Scott: I really like it here, especially the beach and the ocean, but I miss the city a lot. I grew up in the city, you know. I’ve spent all my life in New York and L.A. Being on an island is something else. The people here are nice, there’s good energy here. But I miss the chaos and the stress in the city.
Daniel: I love it here. I’m lucky enough to be working on two different shows. If people consider me a face of the island, I’d be very happy about that. I love the sense of community here. I love the little moments when, for example, I change lanes and they give way and I even get a “Thank you!” This place is very different from any place that I’ve lived in. People smile at you anywhere, at the grocery, in restaurants, anywhere!
Grace: The first month was extremely stressful for me. Then, the next two or three months I started to make some friends, I started to go out and go to the beaches and hang out with local people. It’s cool! You can’t really do it anywhere else. It’s so different from Canada where I live.
What extra preparation did you do for your role?
Scott: Not for this role. I’ve been in the martial arts for a long time and I even hurt my knees.
Daniel: Frankly, I don’t have time to train because we work so many hours every day. Once I get home, I eat my dinner, work on my lunch for tomorrow and fall asleep. But I’ve been athletic growing up, I like sports and I had martial arts training, and all that are useful in my work now. I also spent time with Honolulu policemen to observe how they work and learn how to shoot my weapon.
Grace: We went with some Honolulu policemen on the job and we learned a lot about catching criminals. In the show, I pose as an undercover and I learned how to do it from the Honolulu cops.
Anything about your character that you identify with?
Alex: Jack Lord’s is kind of big shoes to fill. A lot of people are expecting good things and big things from the show.
Scott: The character is just me, you know. Except that I don’t have a daughter and I’m not from New Jersey.
Grace: I think Kono is smart and ambitious, and has a certain curiosity about the world. I’m glad that they added a female character to the show. Somehow, she enhances the male characters in a way. You really see the difference because it’s not just charging ahead. You really can tell when it’s male and when it’s not. Anything about Kono that I identify with? Well, I’m certainly not the kind who would pick a fight with people. (Laughs)
(To Scott) You play a father in the series. What kind of a father are you in real life?
Scott: I don’t have kids, just this dog. He travels with me all the time. By the way, I enjoy working on this show. We have long working schedules, and everybody is fun. You don’t have time to do anything else. Your life is gone while you’re doing a show like this.”
(To Daniel) And how are you as a father?
Daniel: I try to be a good dad. I try to live my life in a way that I can look at myself in the face in the mirror. Compared to the traditional Korean father, I think I’m pretty liberal. But compared to some hippie friends I know, I might be pretty conservative. Some of my core values are Korean because I learned them from my parents. I was born in Korea but America has become my home. It’s a mixture, for sure.
So how do you keep up with the long hours of work? Do you have time to work out? What sort of diet do you have?
Alex: Honestly, I hardly have time to work out. Diet? None. I just watch what I eat.
Scott: I exercise whenever I can, get in the ocean as much as I can. (Adding with a laugh) And I eat croissants for breakfast. I start with a chocolate croissant. I cut one into two and eat one half with cheese, and the other half with egg. Then I cut the third one and eat one half, and then eat the other half, until I end up finishing about five to six croissants.”
Daniel: Generally, I like to exercise, I like to run, I like to play tennis and I like to lift weights but because of our schedule there’s no regular workout anymore. As a matter of fact, I’ve lost 10 pounds since we started the shoot because I’m not able to exercise regularly. I try to regain weight by stuffing myself with lots of oranges and junk food all over the place.
Grace: I’m not the healthiest person but I do have a healthy regimen. Like, I take what I call my “green drink” every morning, and my husband calls it “low tide.” But it sustains my energy longer especially since we have to work long hours for the show. I eat a lot of nutrients to keep me going.
How do you enjoy your free time?
Alex: I don’t have free time. I have one day off this weekend and I plan to surf or sleep. Or I just lie in bed.
Scott: I like working out but I don’t like gyms. I like training martial arts.
Daniel: I watch a lot of TV. Among my favorites are Madmen, Entourage, No Reservations (a cooking show, because “I love to eat”) and a few more. I spend as much time as I can with my family. We watch Five-O as a family every week. I have two kids, ages eight and 14. Their friends also watch the show.
(To Alex) How do you usually spend time with your family?
Alex: I always make time for my family. They visit me. My son wants to dive and this place is perfect for that. He’s growing up on film sets so I’m kind of ruining his movie experience because he knows how things are done.
(To Scott) How are you and your dad?
Scott: We talk a lot more now. I’ve made a couple of movies with him; I directed him in a movie. I write stuff for him. My dad is really like the anti-pretentious non-artist, you know, so he likes to make fun of people who like to talk about art. But he’s an artist, which is weird, but he really is. He’s also crazy, you know, but in a good way. Brilliantly crazy.”
(To Scott) Does he give you any pointers?
Scott: Not really, not on acting but more on…I don’t know. Yes, more about how to deal with people rather than about acting. Acting is a weird thing. No two people do it the same way.
(To Scott) Which of his movies do you like the most?
Scott: I like all his movies, man! Especially Rollerball (1975). It’s unbelievable! It’s a movie ahead of its time.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)