Plane crash at King Kong 2 film set

The expedition's helicopter crashed in Tu Lan valley, Tan Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district (Quang Binh).

On February 24 – the third day at the King Kong 2 filming site, a helicopter of the expedition crashed in Tu Lan valley, Tan Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district (Quang Binh). The plane broke in half, debris was scattered everywhere, the tail of the plane was on a sand dune, in the middle of a stream near the entrance of Chuot cave, the home of the monkey king.

The tail of the plane fell on the stream.

The third working day of the film crew from Hollywood, in heavy rain, cold 16 degrees Celsius. The film set was moved from Yen Phu village, Trung Hoa commune to Tu Lan valley, Minh Hoa commune. The nearly 3km long gravel road leading to the film set, invested by Legendary Pictures with nearly 1.5 billion VND, was muddy due to the large number of heavy trucks going in and out to serve the logistics work. However, the film making was not interrupted because of that.

At around 8am, the film crew began shooting the first scenes. According to the script, this is where the expedition plane in the movie King Kong crashed, opening the way for grand scenes and breathtaking action scenes.

Quite a number of journalists were present, but were blocked by security forces at the outer perimeter, about 3km from the studio. Some reporters tried to infiltrate but failed, because the studio was located in the Tu Lan valley, surrounded by towering mountains.

Security blocked the only road, nearly 3km from the film set, preventing reporters from entering the film set.

At exactly 11 o'clock, the delegation of leaders of Quang Binh province visited the film studio at the invitation of the film studio. A number of reporters were "accompanied", but all recording equipment and phones were "temporarily detained" by security forces before entering the studio. The film studio was divided into two groups, one group acted at the stream, the other group was at the Chuot cave not far away. The film crew worked hurriedly, despite the presence of strangers, the director still let the camera start.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts said: Try to finish the scenes early, let the actors go home to rest because the weather is quite cold.

The center of the set is the tail of the helicopter, placed on a sand dune, with rocks protruding from the middle of the stream. It was raining so the stream flowed quite strongly, the clouds covered it, making the space more melancholy, very suitable for the scene after the plane crash.

To create a wild scene, the staff regularly sprayed water on the sand to erase footprints before each scene. The actors had to wade through waist-deep water to act. After each scene, the staff had to wrap the actors in cotton blankets and aluminum foil to keep them warm.

The Quang Binh provincial leaders and some reporters were invited to a meal at the scene with many European, Asian and Vietnamese dishes by the film crew. An open-minded American chef said: They have 10 chefs and have to work continuously from 1am to 8pm, to serve food to more than 800 people at the scene, with 14 dishes per day. All essential foods are brought from the US.

Back to Yen Phu studio

Unlike the crowded days when the Hollywood studio was here, Yen Phu village is now quiet and peaceful, every house is closed to avoid the cold. If you did not witness it, you would not think that just a day ago, this was the bustling set of a blockbuster movie. The film crew withdrew, leaving almost no trace, not even a piece of trash. Yen Phu returned to itself, a peaceful, enchantingly beautiful village.

The plane brought from the US could not take off to film the big scene because of bad weather.

At the filming set in the middle of the rockery, even the dry branches that were trimmed during filming and placed next to the ancient tree roots were gone. They found the alluvial land at Yen Hoa Lake, where the scene of the expedition meeting the giant buffalo was filmed, hoping that the giant buffalo’s footprints would still be imprinted on the ground, but it had been filled in and covered with grass as it was.

A man around 50 years old, went to the alluvial land to herd the cows to the barn to avoid the cold and said: His village is isolated from the outside world, and strangers rarely come to the village. Recently, a film crew came with thousands of people and hundreds of vehicles. Suddenly, strangers came from nowhere to control his village. The cows, buffaloes, chickens and ducks were not allowed to roam freely, and the villagers quit their jobs to follow the film crew, causing disruption to their lives. But now that the film crew has left, he feels disappointed and sad.

“They are truly civilized people, leaving behind not a single piece of trash. I don’t know how much profit they make from making movies, but I think it’s a waste. They even hired a cleaning truck from Hanoi to clean up the trash. If they touch anything that belongs to the people, they will pay them back without missing a cent. If this was done regularly, the people here would suffer less. For example, my cows here, when kept in the barn, they paid more than 2 million VND,” he said.

According to the film crew, the filming in Yen Phu was very successful, despite a small incident. A mentally ill person suddenly broke into the studio during the first day of filming, but was immediately controlled by security forces, so it did not affect the filming much. Yen Phu people seriously implemented their commitment not to let their cattle roam free to avoid affecting the filming.

According to the schedule, on February 26, the film crew will finish filming in Quang Binh to go to Ninh Binh. However, the aerial shots, capturing the images of Phong Nha - Ke Bang mountains and forests in the Cha Noi area, near Da Deo Pass, have not been able to be taken off yet. Because the helicopter brought by the film crew from the US, currently parked in Phong Nha, serving the above scenes, has not been able to take off due to bad weather.

This is a small specialized helicopter, equipped with 6 cameras on the nose and a control panel for recording right in the cabin. A member of the film crew said: This helicopter was disassembled into parts so that it could be transported by transport plane from the US to Noi Bai airport. From here, it was transported by container truck to Gia Lam airport, where Vietnamese experts assembled it and test-flew it before an American pilot took control of the flight to Quang Binh. Most likely, the film crew will leave Quang Binh as scheduled, but a group must stay behind to shoot the big scenes from this helicopter.

That same evening, the leaders of Quang Binh province will invite the film crew to a meal in Phong Nha - Ke Bang. It is expected that about 10 members of the film crew will attend this meal, including the Director of Legendary Pictures. However, most of the actors will not be able to attend the meal because they want to rest and stay healthy for the next working day.

It is known that the meal will take place in a friendly, cozy atmosphere, with specialties of Quang Binh such as banh xeo, banh duc... Here, the film crew will be introduced to more beautiful scenes of Quang Binh through films and photos, with the hope that they can choose scenes for the next films./.

According to VOV