'Max Havoc' fiasco gets national attention

‘Max Havoc’ fiasco gets national attention
By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE “Max Havoc” movie fiasco has gotten national attention with no less than the Los Angeles Times doing a major article on the issue.

In the article titled “Camera, legal action!” LA Times staff writer Kim Christensen got some juicy quotes from some prominent island personalities.

“Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon” was the first of at least two action flicks that Hollywood producer John Laing and director Albert Pyun planned to shoot on Guam as part of what Christensen describes as “an unusual deal” with the Guam Economic Development and Commerce Authority.

The issue is now in court with Guam officials contending that Laing fooled them into putting up $800,000 to guarantee a bank loan on which he later defaulted while Laing counters that GovGuam broke its promise of financial support and caused his company to lose $1.5 million.
Sen. Ben Pangelinan, D-Barrigada, was one of those mentioned in the article and quoted as accusing the filmmakers of peddling “the glitz of Hollywood” to star-struck officials who were all too eager to buy it.

“If somebody on Guam wanted to meet Carmen Electra, there are a lot cheaper ways than backing a film in which she had a three-minute part,” said Pangelinan.
Pangelinan further accused Pyun and Laing of dealing in bad faith with GEDCA, Gov. Felix P. Camacho and other officials.

“They were not able to distinguish a real deal maker from pie-in-the-sky, promise-‘em-the-moon deal makers who promised to bring things to Guam and in the end took things from Guam,” Pangelinan told the Times.

Former congressman and gubernatorial candidate Robert Underwood was also quoted as saying that the money lost is not as big an issue as the fact that it symbolizes the ineptness and the naivete of some of the people in the government of Guam.

“It’s more an embarrassment than anything else,” Underwood said.

According to Christensen, the governor declined comment but the article does contain this anecdote concerning Camacho during a gala dinner with the stars of the movie: “The governor is standing next to me and we’re behind Carmen Electra and he’s looking down her bustier and he says to me, ‘Wow, look at that. That’s Hollywood!’” the article quotes Laing as saying.

Laing now calls the Guam experience “the most extraordinary debacle of my life” but lays much of the blame on director Pyun.

In response, Pyun said it is usual for the director to always get the blame when things go wrong. But he said in an e-mail to the Times, Pyun stated that the production had to contend with funding problems and equipment shortage.

“The film was shot on a shoestring and a prayer. I did the best I could,” he added.