Why Vietnam was the perfect location for Kong: Skull Island

For the director, filming in Vietnam stood out.  

“I scoured the world. I very specifically didn’t want (the film) to look like Jurassic Park ... I wanted it to look fresh,” he explained. “I think audiences go to cinemas to see new things. So I went to a lot of places in Asia. People have shot in Thailand before and it seemed like an easy fit but I was like, ‘No!’ so we kept going around. And then I landed in Vietnam, looked at these landscapes and just fell in love.”

 “The look of Vietnam is gorgeous and otherworldly at the same time,” he said. “There’s such a raw, powerful and unspoiled beauty that general audiences hadn't experienced on screen before. There’s a ruggedness and a beauty to a place like Vietnam.”

Even though it has been chosen as a Hollywood film location before, this was the first time Vietnam has hosted a film production of this size, scale and magnitude. The entire cast and 120 crew members of “Kong: Skull Island” was all on site in February last year, shooting in Quang Binh's colossal caves and the tranquil town of Phong Nha, as well as the world-renowned Ha Long Bay and the northern province of Ninh Binh.

Known for their untouched spectacular scenery and wondrous natural structures, these are some of the most remote and beautiful parts of Vietnam that have not been seen much in a Hollywood film.

“That’s the reason why we shot there, because you’re trying to find something that is completely untouched and looks unlike anything you’ve seen before. And Vietnam is the answer to that,” said actress Brie Larson.

“You can see it in the film. People will have to go visit it. I cannot say enough nice things about Vietnam. It was my first trip there and it will certainly not be my last. Hanoi was absolutely incredible … and Ninh Binh was also beautiful. I tell everyone who wants to go there that (Hanoi) is such a great place to start because there’s so much to do and so much to see.”

Larson, who had to fly directly from Vietnam to the Academy Awards to receive her Best Actress Oscar and then back to resume filming of Kong the morning after, told Channel NewsAsia that the experience was all about “the little things”.

“They built our trailers from the ground up! They took what I think were old school buses, gutted them completely and put in plumbing and couches. It was amazing!” she recalled. “The craftsmanship on those things was amazing. It was just little things. I think they even built roads for our trucks to get to these locations because we were so remote.”