Hawaii perfect paradise location

　　By Paul Majendie 翻译：郑睿

　　[1]For international set-jetters Hawaii is the perfect location. From Indiana Jones racing for cover, dinosaurs rampaging in Jurassic Park, to Elvis Presley crooning to his bride, the Hawaiian island of Kauai has offered the ultimate exotic backdrop in more than 70 Hollywood movies.

　　[2]As the tourist industry enjoys a boom in bookings inspired by movie and TV locations — a phenomenon known as “set-jetting” — Hawaii is celluloid nirvana for besotted film fans. It gives them a chance to mix reality with illusion as they tour sites made famous in a string of movie classics — as well as such forgettable stinkers as “She Gods of Shark Reef.” With its tropical forests, volcanic landscapes, picture-postcard beaches and idyllic waterfalls, Kauai represents just about anywhere as an all-purpose cinematic backdrop.

　　[3]The island stood in for Congo in “Outbreak”, for Australia in “The Thorn Birds”, for the Caribbean in “The Man With The Golden Gun” and Vietnam in “Uncommon Valour”. The hit TV series “Lost” was shot on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and the state pulled in a record $161 million in production revenue last year, nearly twice 2003’s $84 million. Even nature has given Hollywood a helping hand. Steven Spielberg was filming “Jurassic Park” when Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai in 1992. So the director took to the roof of his hotel with a cameraman to get footage of wind-whipped waves crashing over the Nawilili breakwater. The clips made it into the movie. Hurricane Iniki ravaged another hotel which was immortalised by Elvis Presley in “Blue Hawaii”.

　　DRIED UP FOUNTAINS

　　[4]Today, in spite of its decrepitude, drained pool and dried up fountains, the abandoned Coco Palms Hotel is starring all over again in Hawaii Movie Tours, enjoying new-found fame thanks to the boom in global set-jetting.

　　[5]As Hollywood-themed tours have taken off, movie fans have flocked to New Zealand to lap up the spectacular backdrops used in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy6. The New Zealand government even appointed its own minister to boost tourism following the movies’ success.

　　[6]Hawaii Movie Tours, created in 1996 when its tours centred on the “Jurassic Park” locations, is now a thriving business that offers everything from “Blue Hawaii” locations to “South Pacific” singalongs on the beach where Mitzi Gaynor washed that man right out of her hair. “At first we put all our eggs in the ‘Jurassic Park’ basket and that was a big mistake. Elvis is now a big draw and is very popular. And everyone loves ‘South Pacific’,” Movie Tours company president Bob Jasper said.

　　[7]With a fleet of tour vans, off-road vehicles, and even a helicopter to take fans to the more isolated locations, the tours sate the appetite of even the most fervent film lover. Fans are shown Sensurround film clips of the scenes in their van and then pitched into the blinding sunshine to see the actual locations. The tours take up to 2,000 people a month around the island and Jasper told Reuters: “It is growing all the time. We don’t have enough vehicles to keep up with demand.” “We have had Hollywood production people going out on our tours and Hollywood writers from the studios. But the actors are kind of jaded9 and don’t want to see movie sets on their time off,” he said.

　　JOINT PROMOTIONS

　　[8]From the start, the company decided not to visit the homes of movie stars on Hawaii, a decision appreciated by the Hollywood studios that have been happy to advertise the location tours in joint promotions. “We have even invited stars on private tours but nobody has nibbled. We offered (James Bond star) Pierce Brosnan a nice free trip but he is very private and declined our offer,” Jasper said.

　　[9]Canada has proven a major location magnet for Hollywood studios, but Hawaii is managing to hold its own in the exotic background market. And Tinseltown enjoys the familiarity. “There is no language barrier, no monetary barrier,” Jasper said. “We have no snakes here, there is a government they are used to working with. We have the look, we have the weather. ”“We can even look like the flat island of Bermuda if you shoot at a low angle to avoid the mountains in the background. ”

　　[10]On the tours, movie fans from the United States, Australia, Japan and Britain always enjoy a good singalong. “People certainly seem very willing to sing. South Pacific was such a huge hit and a lot of our clients grew up with it,” Jasper said. “We hand out the words and they see it on-screen on the TV monitors in our vans. They just love to sing along to ‘There Ain’t Nothing Like A Dame’.”