The 1000th Thang Long-Hanoi anniversary organising board has announced it will invest 48 billion dong (over US$2.66 million) in a movie about a historical character, great tutor Tran Thu Do.

The second runner-up of Miss Universe Vietnam 2008 Duong Truong Thien Ly is practising singing, dancing and horseback riding to play the role of imperial concubine Tran Thi Dung in “Great Tutor Tran Thu Do”.

The first scenes of this movie will be shot on June 12 by the Feature Film Studio 1 under the order of the 1000^th Thang Long-Hanoi anniversary organising board. The project will run for eight months.

Directed by Dao Duy Phuc, script by Nguyen Manh Tuan, the two lead roles will be played by young actor Thien Bao as Tran Thu Do and the second runner-up of Miss Universe Vietnam Duong Truong Thien Ly as imperial concubine Tran Thi Dung.

The 30-episode film will be shot for over ten days at the 40,00sq.m studio in Co Loa, Hanoi, then in the central city of Hue city before going to China’s Hengdian studio in Zhejiang province.

Some foreigners will participate in the film crew as martial-arts instructors and technicians, said Dang Tat Binh, director of the Feature Film Studio 1.

This film project has been being prepared for several years since it is an important project to celebrate the 1000^th grand anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi as Vietnam’s capital.

Tran Thu Do was the meritorious founder of the Tran Dynasty and the one who ruled the country in the early years of the Tran Dynasty (1226-1264).

Writer Nguyen Manh Tuan, who wrote the script of “Great Tutor Tran Thu Do”, said: “In historical books, Tran Thu Do was described in ten lines so my script about him is mainly invented. However, the invention is based on history. Though history criticises him in many aspects, my Tran Thu Do is a talented man who prepared the ground for a strong Dai Viet country to defeat foreign invaders three times later.”

The movie also tells the sorrowful love story of Tran Thu Do and imperial concubine Tran Thi Dung. Tuan has been invited to write a 60-episode TV script about King Ly Cong Uan.

VietNamNet/NLD/VH