March 30, 2024
Don "The Dragon" Wilson

Hollywood Action Stars Arrive

an American champion kickboxer and actor
Don 'The Dragon' Wilson is in the country with Cynthia Rothrock to promote their upcoming film. Image via Wikipedia

By Jacob Pok

Hollywood movie stars Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Cynthia Rothrock are in the country to film a movie – and hopefully promote the country as a tourist destination.

They are accompanied by the president of Hollywood based-company Gorilla Pictures Bill J. Gottlieb.

The B-Team PNG movie project was initiated by former world kickboxing champion, PNG’s very own Stanley “Head Hunter” Nandex.

The Hollywood visitors were treated to a rousing welcome at the Jackson Airport by Huli dancers from Tari, Southern Highlands.

Nandex and Robert Kopaol, chairman of the B-Team PNG movie project, headed the welcome committee that met the trio.

This is Wilson’s second trip to PNG – he first came here in 2008 as a special guest for a Nandex-promoted kickboxing tournament.

Wilson has starred in several martial arts movies including the Blood Fist series, with Chuck Norris’ in Delta Force 2 and Batman Forever.

China O’Brien” star Rothrock and Gottlieb are here for the first time.

They will officially launch the B-Team PNG movie project tomorrow at the Gateway Hotel. They expressed their excitement to be in a country which they knew very little about.

“Before I knew Nandex and the country, I thought PNG was an abbreviation for some sort of gasoline,” Wilson said.

He said not many people in the United States (US) know PNG and it was a privilege to be in the country to promote and produce a movie.

Gottlieb said the filming of the movie would cost about US$1.5 million (K3.125 million) and would take approximately 35 to 40 working days to complete.

He said filming an action movie in such a country with diverse culture would be adventurous, exciting and entertaining to the outside world.

He said the movie’s cast and crew would mostly involve local talents because the movie would be shot in various locations and provinces in the country.

Nandex said he had already identified some of the settings for the movie. He said the preferred locations for the filming would be in East New Britain, Kutubu, Southern Highlands, Port Moresby and other locations in other provinces.

Kopaol thanked the trio for taking time to travel to PNG and showing interest in filming in the country.

He said producing a Hollywood movie in the country would be the first of its kind and would not only put the county on the world map but would promote tourism, sports and encourage many youths to venture into the film industry.

He also thanked the government for supporting the movie project.

Bernard Sinai

Bernard is a student of Kyokushin Karate and a blogger. He believes martial arts has the potential to change people for the better.

View all posts by Bernard Sinai →

One thought on “Hollywood Action Stars Arrive

  1. Hi… I’m was born in Papua New Guinea and in Lae and I would like to say that Lae is a nice place to have the movie…

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