"The Quiet American" breaks silence
HO CHI MINH CITY - On the morning of February 17, the first scenes in the film "The Quiet
American" were shot. After some initial troubles, the shooting of the film
which was made by Australia's Very Quiet Productions kicked off as
scheduled. Following is a view of the film by some Vietnamese
assistants taking part in the shooting.
The main service provider for "The Quiet
American" film crew from Australia during their
shooting in Vietnam is the HCM City-based
Hang Phim Giai Phong (Liberation
Productions Firm). The service is in fact not
new to Liberation Productions as over the
years it has cooperated with or provided
similar tasks for foreign films such as
"L'amant" (The Lover), "Green Papaya," both
by French producers, "White Badge" (Korea),
"Moments of War" (Japan) and, most recently,
"Three Seasons" (U.S.).
"Compared with 'Three Seasons,' 'The Quiet American,' an
adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, has a much larger scale and
the services we provide are more diverse," says Tran Khai Hoang,
sales manager of Liberation Productions. The Vietnamese side is
responsible for legal consultancy, licensing, recommendation and
supply of personnel as requested.
"The money gained is not big," says Hoang. "But more importantly,
our staff has chances to approach the way a foreign professional crew
makes a film." In addition to HCM City, "The Quiet American" will also
be shot in Hanoi, Ninh Binh and Hoi An.
Although having gained some experience in such services, the task
for Liberation Productions is not always easy. The latest incident
occurred last week when the film crew and its Vietnamese counterpart
failed to produce a license to film explosion and fires on the streets of
downtown Saigon. However, Hoang says the problem has been
solved and the license has been issued.
Aside from personnel of Liberation Productions and the Feature Film
Productions No. 1, "The Quiet American" film crew has also recruited
many local assistants, interpreters and workers.
Huong, an assistant and interpreter working for the artistic design
section, says previously she has done similar jobs for a few foreign
film crews and the experience has helped her join the crew this time.
According to Huong, her section has several groups, including set,
decoration and tools. Her group of film set is staffed with 20 persons
under the direction of three foreign experts. Huong's current job is to
provide consultancy for the foreign experts in buying necessary
instruments to be used to transform about a dozen of shops on Dong
Khoi Street into "boutiques" in the early fifties. Huong says in order to
film these shops during the nine shooting days, several hundred
millions of dong have been spent for compensation.
Another Vietnamese assistant is Thai Uyen, a fashion designer in
HCM City. "This is the first time I work for a big foreign film crew in such
a long time-from January to April," says Thai Uyen. "They are very
professional," remarks Thai Uyen. "References on Vietnamese
costumes they have are better than what we have in Vietnam." Uyen
says the Australian filmmakers have brought with them old traditional
Vietnamese garments, footwear, headwear and even glasses-all are
genuine worn-out items of the fifties. "Of course, they don't have all,"
Thai Uyen elaborates, adding that they have some made or
purchased in Vietnam.
Thai Uyen says her group includes five Vietnamese and eight
foreigners under the guidance of a chief designer and a costume
supervisor.
The foreign film crew of over 100 members has checked in the two big
hotels in the area-Caravelle and Continental, both have some
relations with the setting of the film in one way or another. Pham Thanh
Ha, deputy general director of Caravelle, says the film crew has
occupied over 100 rooms in the two hotels. The expeditionary and
technical groups arrived on February 5 and as planned the entire crew
will be present by the end of this month. The filmmakers have also
hired a broad room in Caravelle Hotel for rehearsal.
Thanh Nien (Young Adults) newspaper has an interview with Jeff
Thorp, art director of the film. Excerpts:
How did you feel when assigned with the job for the film?
I have done the same job for many Australian films. However, "The
Quiet American" is both a big joy and challenge to me.
Could you give a remark on your Vietnamese collaborators?
On coming here I thought all had to be faithful to the approved shooting
script-from A to Z. However, after my arrival, I understand that we
should cooperate. It's not necessary always to do my way as my
Vietnamese partners have contributed good initiatives. They can only
be given by Vietnamese.
By Cong Thang - The Saigon Times Weekly - February 24, 2001.
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