"The Pacific" greenlighted to begin production.......

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Really a huge fan of Band of Brothers, so I'm looking forward to this series.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...=1238&cs=1&p=0

HBO greenlights Spielberg mini
Project is an Asian-theater take on WWII
By STEVEN ZEITCHIK


HBO Films has greenlit "The Pacific," a WWII miniseries from "Band of Brothers" exec producers Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman that will serve as a kind of companion piece to that earlier project.

Production will begin in Australia this summer, with the mini to run on the net possibly in 2009.

Spielberg, Hanks and Goetzman will serve as exec producers. HBO Films will produce in association with Playtone and DreamWorks Television.

Tony To and Graham Yost are co-exec producers. Bruce McKenna is supervising producer, and Robert Schenkkan, George P. Pelecanos and Michelle Ashford are co-producers.

Project, an Asian-theater take on WWII whose title had also surfaced at one time as "The Pacific War," had been in development at the pay net.

Cast members and a director have yet to be attached.

"The Pacific" will draw on several sources of material, including Eugene Sledge's tome "With the Old Breed" and Robert Leckie's "Helmet for My Pillow."

Hugh Ambrose, son of the late historian Stephen Ambrose, will serve as a consultant on the project; Stephen Ambrose's book of the same name was the source material for "Band of Brothers."

"The Pacific" follows the stories of the two authors, as well as that of fellow Marine John Basilone, as they the fight against Japan across the entire Asian theater.

Much of the mini will be shot in Melbourne, where U.S. troops were stationed during the war.

"Band of Brothers" was a huge hit for HBO in 2001 and won six Emmys and a Golden Globe.

But despite the similarities between "The Pacific" and "Brothers," HBO Films topper Colin Callender noted that the new project will dramatize how the Asian war "profoundly differed from the European front. This was a different sort of war fighting a different sort of enemy."

After years of movies set in Europe, Hollywood has directed its WWII efforts toward Asia, as with Clint Eastwood's "Letter From Iwo Jima" last year.

[NoMyths]

Tremendous. Very excited to see this come together.

[Dutch]

I haven't read the two books/authors mentioned here. As a reader of "Everything Ambrose" (for better or for worse), I was amazed at how much material in Band of Brothers was strictly recreated.

I'll definately have to add these books to my reading list before the mini-series arrives.

[LloydLungs]

Finally! This has been in the works for a long time. I actually transcribed some stories from Pacific theater veterans a few years ago as sort of early preparation for this. I can't wait to see if some of that stuff makes it into this miniseries.

[gottimd]

Huge fan of Band of Brothers, this is great news. Eventhough I have seen the series hundreds of times, and own the boxset, whenever they come on A&E or they do a marathon, I will still watch them.

[Antmeister]

Wow! I just finished watching Band of Brothers on Netflix last week and was blown away with the entire series. Hadn't realized that was 6 years ago already considering the quality of the effects and the near perfect cinematography. Looking forward to this one.

[sachmo71]

If they are using sledge, I'm not looking forward to seeing the visual representation of Okinawa when he was digging his mortar pit.

[sachmo71]

BTW...borders had a big 40% off box set sale on Friday, so I was finally able to snag Band of Brothers.