On 8th December 1941, just over 24 hours after the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbour, Congress issued a formal declaration of war against the Empire of Japan. For a decade, tensions had been mounting between Japan and the US, as the Japanese expanded their conquest of a large region including much of China and Southeast Asia. As a result of the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the United States officially entered World War II, already in its third year of being waged by countries of the Allied powers, including the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Canada and Australia, against the Axis powers of Japan, Germany and Italy.
Practically overnight, military recruiting offices across the United States were jammed, as thousands of Americans rushed to enlist in the armed forces. Many of those young men chose to join the Marine Corps, which saw its ranks more than triple in the six months following Pearl Harbour.
The Pacific tracks the three entwined, real-life journeys of Leckie, Sledge and Basilone and their fellow Marines over the vast landscape of the Pacific in World War II. The mini-series follows them from their first battle with the Japanese on Guadalcanal, through the rain forests of Cape Gloucester and the strongholds of Peleliu, across the black sand terraces of Iwo Jima and through the horror of Okinawa, and finally to their triumphant but uneasy return home after V-J Day.
THE SERIES: The production of the series has cost an estimated $200 million and has been shot entirely in High Definition. The investment in the project has given the finished series the look and feel of a major Hollywood theatrical release with the ongoing narrative of a serial drama.
Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Movies, said: 'We were blown away when we saw the previews of the series - the cinematography and effects are pure Hollywood. It seemed only natural that a premium production such as this should live on Sky Movies, where it can be viewed as the director intended - in HD and with no ad breaks."
PRODUCTION: The Pacific is produced by HBO Films in association with Playtone and DreamWorks Television. Executive producers of the series are Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, the creative team behind the Emmy-winning 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.
DIRECTED BY: Carl Franklin, David Nutter, Jeremy Podeswa, Tony To, Timothy Van Patten and Graham Yost
WRITERS: Laurence Andries, Michelle Ashford, Bruce C. McKenna, George Pelecanos, Robert Schenkkan and Graham Yost. The miniseries is based in part on the books "Helmet for My Pillow," by Robert Leckie, and "With the Old Breed," by Eugene B. Sledge, with additional material from "Red Blood, Black Sand," by Chuck Tatum, and "China Marine," by Eugene B. Sledge, as well as original interviews conducted by the filmmakers.
LEAD CHARACTERS: Three U.S. Marines - Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda)
'The Pacific' airs on Sky Movies this Easter.
View the trailer for 'The Pacific'
View a clip from 'The Pacific'
ShareThis