HBO Gears Up for Pacific Launch

NEW YORK: The Pacific, a Playtone and DreamWorks production executive produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, is to debut with part one on March 14 at 9 p.m. on HBO, while the further parts roll out on consecutive Sundays through May 16.

The ten-part mini-series tells the intertwined real-life journeys of three U.S. Marines during World War II. The Pacific follows these men and their fellow Marines from the first battle with the Japanese on Guadalcanal across the sands of Iwo Jima and to their return home after V-J Day. 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.