Filming on Location in Vietnam, 'the Country That Kept Every Promise''The Quiet American' helmer Philip Noyce headlined a panel of movie and TV makers who praised the country's lush vistas and local crews' 'high degree of creativity'
“I’ve filmed in many different countries and been promised many different things,” Phillip Noyce told a crowd of more than 300 at the Directors Guild of America on Sept. 25. “But Vietnam is the only country that actually kept every promise.” Noyce filmed his 2002 political drama, The Quiet American — which earned star Michael Caine his sixth Oscar nomination — more than two decades ago in locations across Vietnam. Speaking on a panel moderated by Nicholas Simon, the founder of Indochina Productions, the acclaimed director had high praise for the region’s locations and its cinema community. “For a country that’s struggled against and defeated major empires, you can expect that a film crew there is gonna fight with the same tenacious sort of attitude,” Noyce said. “And they did. They would do anything — but with a high degree of creativity. And that was 20 years ago; it can only have got better since then.”
The panel discussion was the highlight of Destination Vietnam, an event that made the case for the growing Southeast Asian country as an ideal location for American productions. Guests from the film and TV community sipped specialty cocktails (like a Sông Cái Gin and tonic with lychee), enjoyed networking opportunities, took in traditional music and puppetry performances and checked out presentations about Vietnamese businesses and attractions. Hang Son Doong, for example, the largest known cave in the world, was discovered in Vietnam’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park just 34 years ago when a local man was seeking shelter from a storm. It has now been seen in the BBC docuseries Planet Earth III and 2017’s Kong: Skull Island — Destination Vietnam attendees could experience it through a VR headset provided by Oxalis Adventure, one of the co-sponsors of the event.  Once guests filed into the DGA’s theater, Hồ An Phong, Vietnam’s deputy minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, spoke to the crowd about the country’s ambitions to become “a prime destination for American film productions.” He cited its “rich, diverse landscapes,” from jungles and coastlines to bustling cities, as well as the “growing and skilled workforce in the film industry.” Phong also boasted that Vietnam is “working to streamline film permits, offer tax incentives and provide the necessary support” to ensure that studios’ productions are “seamless and successful.” Noyce surely appreciated Phong’s nod to a tax incentive, since the director said during the panel that he’d been advocating for a rebate with the Vietnamese government as he gears up to return there for the upcoming Australian limited series The Last Days of Saigon. Noyce was joined on stage by speakers including Joel S. Rice, the producer on the Netflix romcom A Tourist’s Guide to Love, the first North American film whose full production shot in Vietnam in over 20 years.
Rice recalled how he and his film’s director and production designer were inspired by a tradition in the city of Hôi An, where locals and visitors send wishes down the Thu Bồn river in paper lanterns. A new scene featuring the ritual was added to the film. “It ignited our creativity because we’re in a place that hasn't been depicted that much and could capture our experience being there,” Rice said. Lori Balton, a location scout on Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, recalled her journey along the northern edge of Vietnam, where the waterfalls and the scenery gave her “the experience of a lifetime.” Two producers from CBS’ reality competition series The Challenge detailed the opportunities for unscripted projects in Vietnam. Executive producer Justin Booth noted the country’s ability to handle such a wide production, which often consists of five different set pieces a day. Like Noyce and Rice, he also lauded local film crews’ versatility, work ethic and “the desire to accommodate — everybody worked very, very hard to do everything that they could for us, whenever we needed.”
Mai Suong, the sole Vietnamese citizen on the panel, served as line producer on The Challenge, production manager on Spike Lee’s 2020 feature Da 5 Bloods, and she’s worked on a number of other Vietnam-based projects as well. When she started working on films, she said, the country “did not really have a lot of experience” and that it was difficult at first to grasp the expectations of professional productions. But she has seen the local industry mature as more diverse projects have filmed there. After the panel, Miss Universe Vietnam 2017, H'Hen Niê, drew the winning tickets for the night’s three raffle prizes. There were two trips to Vietnam — via Vietnam Airlines business class — one with a tour of Son Doong Cave and the other with a five-star Mekong Delta boat charter. Then came the big prize: a VinFast VF8 five-passenger electric SUV with a $50,000 value.
Prior to the panel, attendees had the opportunity to check out three VinFast vehicles parked outside the DGA building. VinFast joined the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism, Vietnam Airlines, Vingroup, Sovico Group, HDBank, Vinpearl and Vietjet Air as the main sponsors of the event, which was organized by the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Co-sponsors included Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Ninh Binh Tourism Department, Quang Binh province, Xuan Truong province, Hanoi Tourist, Paradise Cave, Trang An, Oxalis Adventure, Mango Cruises, Viettravel, Focus Travel and VeiOn. Guests who missed out on a raffle prize could pick up a traditional Vietnamese hat or a commemorative coin from one of the sponsors’ tables. Others took home one of dozens of photos of Vietnam’s cities and dramatic landscapes, captured by photographer Trần Tuấn Việt, that were on display in the DGA lobby. Balton took in many of those same landscapes on her memorable journey across Vietnam, an experience she summed up in three words: “Love, grace and agility,” she said. “I saw that over and over and over again with the Vietnamese people.” Follow us: X | Facebook | Instagram | Threads ICYMI
The Optionist, a newsletter about IP
|
