{"id":247237,"date":"2026-01-23T04:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247237\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T04:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:12:08","slug":"jason-momoa-dave-bautista-reflect-on-%ca%bbthe-wrecking-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247237\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista reflect on \u02bbThe Wrecking Crew\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actors\u00a0Jason Momoa<\/a>\u00a0and Dave Bautista star in a new movie, \u201cThe Wrecking Crew,\u201d which was filmed in\u00a0Hawai\u2019i and New Zealand<\/a>, and releases next week.\u00a0It will start streaming globally on Prime Video at 10 p.m. on Jan. 27.<\/p>\n

The fast-paced action comedy features the estranged brothers, Jonny Hale (Momoa) and James Hale (Bautista), who reunite when their father dies mysteriously. In trying to figure out what happened, the brothers discover a conspiracy with the power to tear their family apart.<\/p>\n

The story is set in Hawai\u02bbi, but filmed in the United States and New Zealand. Filming included 12 days in Hawai\u02bbi and 43 days in New Zealand, Angela Laprete, the Hawai\u02bbi producer for \u201cThe Wrecking Crew,” told Aloha State Daily. Scenes captured in Hawai\u02bbi include a murder in Chinatown (which doubles as Kalihi in the movie), a chase scene on the H3, and motorcycle rides along the coast of east O\u02bbahu.<\/p>\n

\"JasonJason Momoa is known for his roles as Aquaman in \u201cAquaman and the Lost Kingdom,\u201d the warlord Khal Drogo in \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d and \u2014 most recently \u2014 Ka\u02bbiana in \u201cChief or War.” (Courtesy of Prime Video)<\/p>\n

The idea for the buddy film started when Bautista and Momoa were working together on \u201dSee,\u201d a television series<\/a> that follows the human race when it has lost its sense of sight and has to find new ways to survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to spend some time with Jason offset and realized he’s just such a fun guy, and our energies are so different,\u201d said Bautista, in a global virtual press conference. \u201cWe just don’t clash. He’s super high energy. I’m super low energy, which it just works. It works in real life. It works on film.\u201d<\/p>\n

The virtual press conference included Momoa, Bautista, the movie\u2019s director \u00c1ngel Manuel Soto and moderator Alex Zane. It was streamed from London, England, for the United Kingdom\u2019s premiere of \u201cThe Wrecking Crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

If character introductions in the movie give a glimpse of each actor\u2019s role, we first see James (Bautista) effortlessly floating under water in a pool where he is training cadets to hold their breaths. The cadets are holding weights to stay submerged and keep dropping those weights to float to the surface for air until only Bautista remains, serene and underwater.<\/p>\n

The introduction scene for Jonny (Momoa) is a bit different. He is on a motorcycle flying down a rural road and gets home to see his girlfriend packing the car because she is breaking up with him.<\/p>\n

After working together in \u201cSee,\u201d Bautista had wanted to do another production with Momoa that was more of a buddy cop film.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo anyway, I tweeted one night: I want to do a buddy cop film with Jason Momoa, something like \u02bbLethal Weapon.\u2019 I want David Lee to direct it. This is before I knew you,\u201d he said of \u00c1ngel Manuel Soto, the movie\u2019s director seated to his right. \u201cBut anyway, that was my tweet. And it exploded! It got more response than anything I’ve ever tweeted, which has been mostly garbage, just random thoughts. But anyway, people responded. So I called Jason. I was like: \u02bbHey, man, I want you to know about this because it is getting such a response, I probably should let you know and make sure you even want to do this. And he said, \u02bbYeah, actually, I already got an idea.\u2019 And so basically his idea was pretty much the foundation of what the film is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Wrecking Crew\u201d stars several actors who appear in \u201cChief of War,\u201d including Momoa, who was Ka\u02bbiana, Temuera Morrison<\/a>, who played King Kahekili, and\u00a0Roimata Fox<\/a>, who portrayed Taula.<\/p>\n

It also features actors from\u00a0Disney\u2019s live action version of \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d (2025), including\u00a0Maia Kealoha<\/a>, who was Lilo, and\u00a0David Hekili Kenui Bell<\/a>, who makes an appearance with shave ice, and died just after the movie’s release. “The Wrecking Crew” also features\u00a0Frankie Adams<\/a>, who stars in Disney\u2019s live action movie \u201cMoana,\u201d set to release this year, as Moana\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Wrecking Crew\u201d has multiple fight scenes, of course, including a notable one between Baustista and Momoa that involves rain, mud, a parked car and some blood.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe movie will be streaming globally on Prime Video at 10 p.m. on Jan. 27. (Courtesy of Prime Video)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the most fun I’ve ever had on a film, throughout my career,\u201d Bautista said. \u201cMoments like that, they sound awful, but we were having a great time beating the hell out of each other, but also we were jumping in a hot tub between takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we got to shoot in New Zealand and Hawai\u02bbi,\u201d Bautista added. \u201cIt was awesome. We had to ride motorcycles in Hawai\u02bbi. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Momoa hope audiences take away from the film?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s definitely up there as one of the funnest films I’ve ever made in my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI had the time of my life. I don’t [usually] watch the premieres over and over. I’ve seen this movie five times now. I’m still laughing. I’m excited to watch it tonight. … And I’m actually having a little private viewing for my kids, because we’re very mad that it’s not playing in theaters because they just love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie leaves room for a possible sequel, as their father\u2019s murder is solved, but another remains open.<\/p>\n

“The Wrecking Crew” will go live at 10 p.m. on Jan. 27 on Amazon Prime<\/a>. See the\u00a0full cast for the movie<\/a>\u00a0here. <\/p>\n

For the latest news of Hawai\u2018i,\u00a0sign up\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0for our free Daily Edition newsletter.<\/p>\n

Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actors\u00a0Jason Momoa\u00a0and Dave Bautista star in a new movie, \u201cThe Wrecking Crew,\u201d which was filmed in\u00a0Hawai\u2019i and New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,2420,256,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-247237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-hawaii","tag-local-news","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}