U.S. Group Making Film in Vietnam

An American film group said Monday that it has received the go-ahead to shoot on location in Vietnam, marking the first time a U.S. movie will be made there since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

Producer Jason Kliot said by phone from his production office in Ho Chi Minh City that work on “Three Seasons” is already underway, with shooting expected to begin in late October and continue into December.

“It’s a Vietnamese story with an American element,” he said. “But it’s not a war movie. It’s a story from the Vietnamese perspective.”

The story is about an American soldier who returns to Vietnam in search of a daughter born out of a brief liaison with a Vietnamese woman during the war.

Harvey Keitel, of “Pulp Fiction” and “The Piano” fame, is playing a role. But Kliot denied local media reports that Keitel would star in a Hollywood shoot.

“It’s a Vietnamese film, being filmed by Americans, about modern-day Vietnam,” he said. “It’s not a Hollywood film by any measure. Our budget is similar to Vietnamese films.”

The movie--the work of Vietnamese American writer and director Tony Bui--is being produced by an independent company, Open City Films, with a Vietnamese partner, Giai Phong (Liberation) studios.