50 Firsts Dates | Page 6

he was clear that he wanted to show the ‘other side’
of Oahu, not just the resort side,” Au continues. “He wanted to show a more rural,
countryside. When we began to scout, we found that most of what we wanted was on
what’s called the Windward side of the island, which has beautiful beaches and is very
green and lush.”

Adds art director Domenic Silvestri, “We researched traditional Hawaiian buildings
rather than the modern structures you find in Waikiki. We discovered that because of
the warm and humid climate, to capture the breezes, there is an incredible openness to
Hawaiian buildings, which also fills them with sunlight. Instead of introducing a lot of our
own palette, we tried to capture the colors of the natural Hawaiian materials. The colors
of the wood and the corrugated roofing - that gets rusted - is what gives you oranges
and reds. The thatching has its own warm earth-tones.”

As for the Hukilau Café and the Whitmore House, Au says, “We found a beautiful spot
on the Kualoa Ranch, which has a fish pond behind it. The environment is incredibly
beautiful with mountains in the background and the blue sky and water. It was the
perfect spot to build the Hukilau Café. Hawaiian buildings have great character to them.

13They’re frequently built on raised foundations with lanais and tin roofs. It’s a very rustic
look, which is the essence of what we wanted to capture.”

The Hukilau is where Henry and Lucy meet, and there are many pages of dialogue that
take place in the same booth. “One of our problems was how to make that visually
interesting,” admits Au. “So we included part of the kitchen in the set with a counter
where other regulars could be seated, and we put lots of Hawaiian artifacts on the walls.
An even bigger challenge, though, was to exactly recreate the Hukilau on stage. The
audience has to believe that what we’re shooting inside is the same environment that’s
outside. So we hung a huge translight with the background of the Kualoa Ranch and
fish pond, and we brought in cars that were parked outside the café. We colored dirt to
resemble the red earth you find in Oahu and added lots of tropical greenery.”

Another major location was the Whitmore’s house, which was located in Waikane on a
secluded dirt road off the main highway right next to a beautiful pier that runs hundreds
of feet into the ocean with beautiful views on all sides. “We added Hawaiian
architectural elements to the house including a lanai. We also replanted the whole
backyard, grading and sodding it,” says Au.

Again the Los Angeles interiors, which were shot earlier, had to match the Hawaiian
exteriors. “The interior set we built on stage in Los Angeles was based on the rough
geography of the house in Hawaii because it had to accommodate the film crew,” says
Silvestri. “Also, there were several extraneous structures on the existing property that
we weren’t able to use, so we did a fair amount of demolition in order to duplicate the
architectural elements that we had created on stage.”

Liberties were taken with the interior of Henry’s office to make it more visually
interesting, Au says. “Pete came up with a great idea for Henry’s office at Sea Life Park.
As long as we were going to build it anyway, he suggested it have a viewing window so

14you can see right into the dolphin tank. That enhanced the romantic mood for a crucial
scene between Lucy and Henry.”

As his director of photography, Segal chose Academy Award®-nominee Jack Green
whose work on Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven and The Bridges of Madison County had
left an indelible impression on the director. “Unforgiven, which captured the badlands,
and The Bridges of Madison County, which depicted a very delicate love story, were the
two iconic movies in terms of the look that I was going for in 50 First Dates,” says Segal.
“We knew we needed to have a savvy eye behind the camera to give it a soft, realistic
look. Jack really balanced the scope of the Hawaiian locales with the intimacy and
comedy of the story.”

“Clint Eastwood made a number of comedies," adds Giarraputo,“ so we knew that Jack
understood comedy. And we also knew that he could shoot the most beautiful,
panoramic vistas. He knows how to make things look beautiful and make them look
grand, and that was something Pete really wanted."

According to Green, “When I interviewed with Pete, he mentioned Unforgiven and
Bridges as a template for the look he wanted to achieve. And shooting in Hawaii gives
you so