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American Morning
Showbiz Today Reports: Makers of 'Pearl Harbor' Had Trouble Bringing Film to Reality
Aired May 25, 2001 - 10:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Disney is hoping this will be a big weekend for them as the spectacle of "Pearl Harbor" reaches the silver screen in ways never before seen.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Okwu is taking a look at that, from New York.
Hi -- Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn, good morning, and good morning, everyone.
This is the morning that Disney and much of Hollywood has been waiting for. The big-budget blockbuster "Pearl Harbor" explodes into theaters all across the country today. The three-hour saga is based on Japan's 1941 surprise attack on America's fleet, but the final result is more a love story than a true story.
Paul Vercammen has the true story behind bringing it to the big screen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long is America going to pretend the world is not at war?
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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Pearl Harbor" is Walt Disney Studios' big-screen love story wrapped around a war.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to teach loops and barrel-rolls. I want to be a combat fighter.
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VERCAMMEN: The movie stars Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett as two hotshot pilots who each fall for an American nurse, Kate Beckinsale. KATE BECKINSALE, ACTOR: I think people who work together and see a lot of explosions will certainly get that, but I don't think that that's all there is to it.
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BECKINSALE: Read the bottom line again. please.
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VERCAMMEN: This is the face that launched a thousand clips. There's a Beckinsale media blitz touting her as the next big thing, especially in her native England.
BEN AFFLECK, ACTOR: Probably, she's getting buzz from people who have seen the movie and know how good she. I know spectacular she is, and what a phenomenal actress and an incredible beauty she is. I think she's going to be a very, very big star.
VERCAMMEN: But Beckinsale's and Hartnett's big breaks, Affleck's leading man act -- the entire movie was nearly sabotaged.
(on camera): The filming of "Pearl Harbor" was filled with a lot of behind-the-scenes battles, including fights over budget, and director Michael Bay concedes he almost walked off the job.
MICHAEL BAY, DIRECTOR: You quit once, to rattle the studio, to get them to start spending money. The second time, they fired my crew. I was mad about that, because I've working with these guys for years. Then it got dicey because we couldn't get the budget down, and I didn't want to chinz on this movie. If I couldn't do it right, I didn't want to do.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Bay, Affleck, and others cut their up- front salaries. "Pearl Harbor" got made for an estimated $135 million.
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DAN AKROYD, ACTOR: Sir, I believe they'll try to hit us where it will hurt us the most.
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VERCAMMEN: They enlisting some big names in supporting roles: Dan Akroyd, American code breaker; John Voigt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Alec Baldwin, Colonel Doolittle; and Cuba Gooding Jr., as hero Dorie Miller, the cook who fired back.
(on camera): Is there part of you that maybe, just a little bit, feels kind of like you're odd man out in a love triangle, not invited?
CUBA GOODING JR.: They had a part of the movie like that, and I was in the bedroom -- no. You know, here's the funniest thing: When I was invited to play this role, it was a small part, and it just kept growing and growing. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it down to the deck, Danny, now.
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VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Some industry insiders predict "Pearl Harbor" will grow into a giant in movie ticket sales.
JERRY BRUCKHEIMER, PRODUCER: This is something you want to duck, at least if you are the producer of it, because of all the hype; no matter what you do, it's going to be disappointing. Hopefully not, but that's usually what happens.
VERCAMMEN: Bruckheimer and Bay teamed up on "Armageddon" and "The Rock." Now the question is are they at the helm of a box office juggernaut or a disaster at sea?
Paul Vercammen, CNN Entertainment News, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
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