Fatal accidents are common on local film sets as actors and crews ignore safety procedures.

Injuries and accidents, even fatal ones, are all too common on Vietnamese movie sets.

The film’s grand battle sequences, depicting Vietnam’s Tay Son Rebellion (1771-1801), feature hundreds of the beasts engaged in complex scenes. But the animals were not ready for all the excitement.

Shiny weaponry and loud noises spooked the horses all too easily and many of the film’s main actors were constantly falling off their steeds.

Anytime a crew member shouted or a sword was drawn, someone was bucked off the back of a horse.

Featured actor Hung Minh broke his hand in several places after falling off his horse.

Ly Hung tried to portray Emperor Quan Trung as a strong and valiant leader, but the actor was flung from his 1.8m-tall horse every time it saw a sword.

Call of the wild

The actors and crew of last year’s acclaimed film Rung den (Black Forest) had other problems: snakes, scorpions and leeches.

The film, which tells the story of a group of illegal loggers, is set deep in the remote jungles of Ha Tinh Province in central Vietnam, where the film crew camped for several days during the shoot.

Snakes often crawled into the crew’s tents while they slept at night and one crew member was bitten by one. Luckily, a group of real lumberjacks, hired as consultants for their knowledge of the forest, were able to use natural remedies to treat him.

Scorpions, leeches and poisonous centipedes were also obstacles.

The actors and crew members were so afraid that the lumberjacks had to host an impromptu class to teach the filmmakers how to deal with the nuisances.

Director of death

Director Khac Loi used to be known for making war films. But fiction turned into fact too many times as several of Loi’s major battle scenes ended in real death for his crew members. Loi no longer makes war films.

While shooting Tieng cong dinh menh (The fateful gong sounds), a tank caught fire with three actors in it, burning them all badly.

An actor died on the set of Loi’s Tren duong thang loi (On the path to victory), his first war film, after one of the blank bullets placed in a gun turned out to be live.

Three other actors died shooting the same film while they played soldiers pulling a cannon up a mountain in a scene depicting the preparations for the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu. In an accident that mirrored the harsh reality of that battle, those pulling the cannon lost control of it, letting the weapon tumble down the hill to plow over three colleagues.

Asked about the reckless loss of life on his film sets, Loi has no excuse except to say that he once met a Russian director who said more people used to die on Moscow movie sets.

More accidents, no accountability

While shooting Do la trang (White dollars), directed by Tran Canh Don, blank bullets fired near a tree sent chips of bark flying into an extra’s eye. The extra was blinded in that eye even though he was wearing protective goggles at the time.

In another tragic mishap, crew member Nguyen Manh Cuong died shooting the Nhat ky Vang Anh (Vang Anh diary) TV series when he fell and drowned in Dai Lai lake in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.

Actor Le Quang filed a lawsuit against Chanh Phuong Co., which produced the 2007 blockbuster Dong mau anh hung (The Rebel) directed by Charlie Nguyen, for refusing to pay compensation for an eye injury he obtained as an actor on the set.

Quang was shot in the eye point-blank with blank bullets and was rushed to the hospital.

Quang says the accident left his eyesight permanently damaged but Chanh Phuong Co. claims it has a doctor’s testimony that the eye was already “defective.”

To pray for luck before shooting a film, Vietnamese film crews make offerings, which range from fruit to roasted pigs. Since a few crews had offered chickens in the past and had some accidents they are still avoided. During the filming process, if something goes wrong, the team makes more offerings to ward off bad luck.

Famous Australian director Phillip Noyce, who directed the acclaimed “The Quiet American,” starring Sir Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser in Vietnam in 2002, was stunned when he first saw his assistant director – award-winning filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh, kneeling and praying to the deities before shooting began.

Reported by Vien Duong - Nguyen Le Chi