Lookatvietnam – Cameo appearances by celebrity musicians, athletes and others - long a common device in Western cinema - are becoming increasingly common in Vietnamese movies.

Eureka! Singer Hong Nhung acts as teacher in the movie Giai Cuu Than Chet, directed by Quang Dung.

Hon Truong Ba Da Hang Thit (Truong Ba’s Soul in Butcher’s Body), made in 2006, was a blockbuster that features appearances by poet Do Trung Quan, painter Trinh Cung, writer Nguyen Quang Sang, and musician Duong Thu, as well as Dung’s fellow directors Le Bao Trung and Vu Ngoc Dang playing mental patients in the movie.

Why does he pepper his films with celebrity supporting players?

“It’s not easy to ask a professional actor to speak one line, while an amateur actor doesn’t really do it well,” Dung said. “But I see many non-cinematic celebrities who regularly appear in public with confidence. And they are happy to play special cameo roles in the movies.”

Dung himself appears in another Tet season hit, Dep Tung Centimet (Beautiful to the Last Centimetre), playing himself, the director of a movie called Saving the Death.

“I had to do a lot of takes for just one minute of screen time,” laughed Dung. Doing a cameo isn’t as easy as it looks, and I can see it is very difficult to be an actor”.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News