The Pacific is an Emmy Award winning 10-part television World War II miniseries, produced by HBO, Seven Network Australia, Sky Movies, Playtone and DreamWorks, that premiered in the United States on March 14, 2010.
The Pacific is a sister to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. It focuses on the United States Marine Corps' actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations within the wider Pacific War. Whereas Band of Brothers followed one company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment through the European Theater, The Pacific centers on the experiences of three Marines (Eugene Sledge, Robert Leckie andJohn Basilone) in separate combat actions.
The Pacific was spearheaded by Bruce McKenna (co-executive producer), one of the main writers on Band of Brothers. Hugh Ambrose, the son of Band of Brothers author Stephen Ambrose, served as a project consultant.
Synopsis
The Pacific is based primarily on two memoirs of U.S. Marines, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge andHelmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie. The miniseries tells the stories of the two authors and Marine John Basilone, as the war against the Empire of Japan rages. It also draws on Sledge's China Marine[4] and Red Blood, Black Sand, the memoir of Chuck Tatum, a Marine who fought alongside Basilone on Iwo Jima.
The miniseries features well-known battles with Japan involving the 1st Marine Division, such as Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa, as well as Basilone's involvement in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Hugh Ambrose wrote the official tie-in book to the miniseries, which follows the stories of the three men featured in the miniseries as well as stories of their fellow Marines. It was published in the USA and UK in March 2010.
Production
The Pacific was produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman in association with HBO Miniseries, Playtone,Dreamworks, Seven Network and Sky Movies. Seven invested in the project for the right to broadcast it in Australia. Nine Networkhas previously broadcast the HBO productions of Band of Brothers. Nine had a broadcast deal with HBO's parent Warner Bros., but then HBO started to distribute its own productions separately.
In April 2007, the producers set up a production office in Melbourne and began casting.
Filming of the miniseries in Australia started 10 August 2007, and finished in late May 2008.
The score was written by Hans Zimmer, Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely and was released on 9 March 2010. The miniseries premiered in the USA on 14 March 2010, on HBO.
