I felt like if we’re going to do a deep dive to try to really ground the characters in this world and in the lived experience of growing up in Hawaii, then it’s not just about rolling cameras on that location. It’s also about having your your office and your prep and all of your prep production, all of that, and even half the writing taking place on the island, with all of us living on the island because that is constantly informing the type of story we were telling. From the details to the sense of humor, and all these things I think, appear on screen as authentically as they do because we made the commitment to actually be in the place.
Additionally, I also give a ton of credit to all of our cultural consultants, and our writer, Chris Bright, who is Hawaiian and whose mother actually worked on the original Lilo & Stitch, which we found out later. One example that pops to mind is Amy Hill’s character Tutu, who is actually a creation of Chris, because he felt like the in real Hawaii, culture is such that if these sisters really lost their parents, they would have a community of people who were pitching in, trying to the support them, and who really open up that idea of wider ohana support.
How did you scout for the Pelakai family home and, more broadly, Lilo and Nani’s neighborhood?
Our location scout Amira and her team did an excellent job finding locations, many of which really haven’t been shot before. And anyone who’s been to Hawaii knows that, it is just chock full of amazing places.
Early on, we were passionate about wanting to depict not just the postcard view of Hawaii, but also what our director of photography at one point described as the, “back of the amusement park.” What is the lived experience? What is the back of the postcard? The lived experience might not be so dressed up and sunlit. We wanted to show the actual day-to-day of people who might work at a luau, what it’s like to go home to their neighborhood. So we always challenged ourselves to not just show the things people have seen, the rainbow and the sun.
The neighborhood spot that we found is a part of Kualoa Ranch, which is known for movie sets and Jurassic Park, but it’s on a part that’s actually one of the manager’s homes. He was showing us around in the different areas they thought might work, but in the end, we felt like we just hadn’t found a place that felt lived in. Though they were all beautiful, they didn’t have that right texture and feel to them, and then he was like, “I gotta talk to my wife, but I’ll show you one more place.” And then we arrive at his actual neighborhood where he lives. His house is actually what stands in for next door neighbor’s house. Then in front of it, we built the Pelakai house, and that was all built on location, at least the exteriors. From there, we didn’t look for any more backdrops; I just left those wide establishing shots that have the mountains in the background, and it’s gorgeous.
