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Owen Vaccaro Shares His Favorite Memories from Filming ‘Finding ‘Ohana’ (Exclusive)

Thanks to Netflix’s newest flick Finding ‘Ohanawe’re taking a *virtual* vacation to the gorgeous islands of Hawaii!

The movie, which is now streaming on the platform, can be described as a modern twist on the classic The Goonies that pays homage to the Hawaiian culture. Filled with great messages and an action-packed story-line, Finding ‘Ohana is the perfect film to watch with your family during a time that we’re spending mostly at home.

In Finding ‘Ohana, Geocache champion Pilialoha “Pili” Kawena (played by Kea Peahu), age 12, is abruptly lifted from her busy New York life and dropped into rural O‘ahu to help care for her grandfather. Initially skeptical about her new surroundings, Pili finds a cryptic pirate’s journal in her Papa’s studio hinting at a 200-year-old shipwrecked treasure hidden away in the island’s caves and mountains. With her older brother (played by Alex Aiono) and new friends in tow she uses her clue solving skills to lead them on an adventure of a lifetime through the natural wonders of Hawaiʻi. As she learns to respect and love her native culture she also discovers not all secrets should be shared and that the real treasure in life is ‘ohana – her family.

FINDING ‘OHANA (L to R) LINDSAY WATSON as HANA, KEA PEAHU as PILI, OWEN VACCARO as CASPER, ALEX AIONO as E in FINDING ‘OHANA. Cr. CHRIS MOORE/NETFLIX © 2021

Celeb Secrets (virtually) sits down with Owen Vaccaro to talk about his time on set, his favorite memories from filming in the Dominican Republic, Thailand and Hawaii, and some BTS secrets from set that you wouldn’t know while watching. FYI, Vaccaro plays Casper, which to date is one of his favorite characters he’s ever played.

“I think my favorite part about playing [Casper] is that I love to play nerdy characters who are smart. [He] knows what [he’s] talking about, and I think that was definitely my favorite part of playing Casper.”

You can read our full Q&A with Owen below and don’t forget to give him a follow on Instagram at @owenvaccaro. Finding ‘Ohana is now streaming on Netflix here.

Celeb Secrets: The film is officially out! For our readers who might not know about Finding ‘Ohana, can you give us a brief synopsis on what it’s about?

Owen Vaccaro: “Finding ‘Ohana is a Netflix movie about a treasure hunt, very similar to The goonies, but it takes place in Hawaii.”

CS: And speaking about “The Goonies” I was going to ask — I know it’s a little bit before your time, like 1985, but have you ever seen the film or did you guys watch it as a cast?

OV: “Yeah, actually I remember seeing the film when I was like eight. I remember being absolutely terrified of it, but then during shooting me and Kaya watched the movie.”

CS: I’m sure that that was great especially because of all the references to the movie. So tell me a little bit about your character Casper specifically. What was your favorite part about bringing him to life?

OV: “Casper I believe is 12 years old. He lives on the Island. I think my favorite part about playing Casper is that I love to play nerdy characters who are smart. I played Lewis in ‘The House’ with a Clock in Its Walls, who I think is very similar to Casper. They’re both kind of nerdy, smart, they know what they’re talking about. I think that was definitely my favorite part of playing Casper.”

CS: And what about the filming process? I read it was filmed in Hawaii, New York, the Dominican Republic and Thailand. Were you in all those places and if so, what was your favorite location you went to?

OV: “The movie was originally going to be filmed solely in the Dominican Republic, but then we ended up not doing that. We originally started shooting in Hawaii for about five weeks and then we shot in Thailand for about five weeks. I personally didn’t shoot in New York, but I know they did for the last week or two of filming. And those locations were absolutely gorgeous. Like all those pictures that you see online is exactly what it looks like.”

CS: I can imagine that must have been like the coolest thing ever, because in some films you can get stuck on a set in the middle of nowhere, but being in Hawaii and Thailand sounds like a dream!

OV: “And my favorite thing is to travel. So going to those places was so incredible.”

FINDING ‘OHANA (L to R) BRANSCOMBE RICHMOND as KIMO, OWEN VACCARO as CASPER, KEA PEAHU as PILI in FINDING ‘OHANA. Cr. COLLEEN E. HAYES/NETFLIX © 2021

CS: Did you have a chance to explore it all?

OV: “We were working most of the time, but we got to explore a bunch of parts of Oahu, which was the Island that we were filming on. We did so much shopping on all of the weekends. And in Thailand, because we were filming and I believe Bangkok, Crubby and Phuket, we got to explore all of those locations.”

CS: What was your favorite part about being on set with this specific cast and crew?

OV: “I think I’ve got two good ones. First off, my favorite thing about this cast and crew is that everyone was so incredibly talented. It was great that everybody knew what they were doing and could do it very well. And I also loved how, when we were filming in Hawaii and Thailand, most of them were from those places so I was able to learn a lot about every single place that I was going.”

CS: Oh, that’s super cool. I’m sure that was awesome. Well, last question about the movie specifically, for our viewers,  can you just give us a little bit of a rundown of why should they tune in on the day of premiere?

OV: “I think that you guys show watch this movie because it’s on Netflix, it’s easily accessible and you know, with Coronavirus, it’s a great movie to watch. It’s also a great movie that you can watch with your family because it delivers a great message. And I think that families should start doing that more. And also it’s just fun.”

CS: Very cool. Well, I want to talk a little bit about you specifically. I’ve read that you began acting at the age of seven and I’m just curious, what made you so passionate to start art of acting at such a young age?

OV: “Originally I was told I should get into acting from my first grade teacher. I tried lacrosse, swimming, soccer, and I just wasn’t really a fan. And so she told me to go try theater. I originally just really loved theater and I still do but, then I sort of branched off into film. And I think the reason that I love it so much is that I get to play all these different characters and it gets to kind of step into their shoes.

CS: Last but not least, our outlet is obviously called Celeb Secrets.  Can you give us a little behind the scenes scoop about something that happened on the set of the film? 

OV: “One fun little secret from behind the scenes is that a lot of those stunts we did ourselves and maybe it was just me, but we were pretty scared sometimes to do most of that. Luckily we had a great stunt team to help us but it was definitely frightening because some of those, we were like hanging from like 30 feet in the air about to drop into water.”

CS: That is so crazy!

OV: “It was an absolute blast. And of course we felt safe the whole time, but it was definitely something we had to step out of our comfort zone a little bit for.”

Author

  • Caroline Renezeder

    Caroline is a west coast correspondent for Celeb Secrets and founder of LA based production company Illuminate Creative Group. When not reporting for Celeb Secrets, Caroline is working on her music and touring around the nation opening for some of the industry’s most iconic artists. Caroline graduated from The University of Southern California in 2018 with a degree in Narrative Studies.

Caroline is a west coast correspondent for Celeb Secrets and founder of LA based production company Illuminate Creative Group. When not reporting for Celeb Secrets, Caroline is working on her music and touring around the nation opening for some of the…

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