It wasn’t just about rolling the cameras in Hawaii. I thought it was important to ground the characters and the story in Hawaii’s world. All of this, including your office, your preparation, and the production of all your pre-production, should take place on the Island. Even half of the writing, if not all, should be done on the Island, as the story is constantly influenced by the location. All of these details and senses, including humor, appeared on screen with authenticity because we were there.
Also, I give credit to our cultural advisors, including Chris Bright, our writer who is Hawaiian, whose mother worked on the original Lilo & Stitch, Later, we learned this. Amy Hill’s character Tutu is a creation by Chris. He felt that in Hawaii culture, if the sisters lost their parents in reality, there would be a group of people that were willing to help and support them.
How did you find the Pelakai home, and more generally, Lilo’s and Nani’s neighborhood?
Amira, our location scout and her team found some really unique locations. Hawaii is full of beautiful places.
We were determined to show not only the postcard view, but what our director described as “the back of the amusement parks” at one time. What is the experience of living? What’s the backside of the postcard? The actual experience may not be as sunlit and dressed up. We wanted to capture the real life of someone who works at a luau and what it is like to return home. We were always challenged to show things that people had seen like the rainbow or the sun, and not just what they’d seen.
We found a neighborhood that is part of Kualoa Ranch which is famous for its movie sets. Jurassic ParkIt’s in a place that is actually the manager’s home. He showed us the different areas he thought could work, but at the end we felt that we hadn’t really found a space we liked. They were beautiful but didn’t feel right. He said, “I have to talk to my spouse, but I will show you another place.” Then we get to his actual neighborhood. It is his house which stands in as the neighbor’s home. In front of the Pelakai, we constructed the Pelakai, and all the exteriors were built on site. We didn’t search for more backdrops after that. I left the wide shots with the mountains as the backdrop. It’s beautiful.
