The film producer Cu Lao Zombie admits the film has many limitations. He said that he and his team listened to the audience’s comments with a spirit of curiosity.
On September 24, Zombie Island left theaters after 3 weeks of premiere. Compared with No Face Murder, a Vietnamese horror film, released near the time, Cu Lao Zombie was criticized and reacted more because of its absurd and silly content. However, the revenue of No Face Killer was less than 5 billion VND, while the film produced by Nhat Trung was 12 billion VND.
Producer Nhat Trung had a discussion with us about the film after it was criticized by the audience as a disaster.
I didn’t think the movie received such a strong reaction
Before leaving the theater on September 24, Cu Lao Zombie achieved a revenue of 12 billion VND with a lot of negative comments. How do you accept this?
I think I just keep looking at things from a positive perspective. A producer participating in the project, the revenue story is only a small part. Zombie Islet is the debut film of a young director, with a new theme. My studio, when receiving a new theme from a young director, also found it interesting, so it decided to invest. I still appreciate the efforts of the director and crew when finding a new story. But clearly the implementation is not good enough.
The acting of Huynh Dong and the cast also could not save the movie.
During the making of films, there was a saying I used to say: “The audience is always right”. When you make products that match the interests of the audience, will be selected. And if you think well but are not suitable for the audience, you will also lose. With the spirit of the market, I, the director and the crew all see where they are right and wrong, and draw lessons for the upcoming journey.
When investing in this project, we determined that this is a long journey, building a series of zombie movies with many parts. This journey will be difficult, challenging, need great determination, are internal factors, not necessarily investment funds. We want to pursue filmmaking about Vietnamese zombies.
For me, Zombie Islet has a good idea of making a Vietnamese zombie movie, but it has many limitations. The movie script builds the character in a polyline, but this is more suitable for an episode. Cinema often uses a single line, which is the main character’s journey, going from mistake, losing everything, realizing the message of life and changing.
Not to mention the zombie movie genre is a big challenge for the crew. Before that, the audience was too used to the image of fast and strong zombies in Korean and Hollywood movies, so they could not accept it as slow as in Zombie Island. And of course the film has many limitations. The audience’s reaction was right and the crew had to be quiet and listen.
Did you expect the film to be such a harsh reaction from the audience?
To say no is not correct. The publisher and I had comments about the film’s limitations before the movie was released. But the response from the audience so much, I can’t count. However, when I met many friends in the industry, I received encouragement because they saw the efforts of the producer and dared to break through with a new genre. I think the crew did it seriously and tried a lot. Of course, the film has many limitations. This is also the first product of a young director, so it is difficult to avoid mistakes.
I feel regretful, suddenly realizing that the movie should have used a single-line script better. But if it is a single route, it is difficult to travel long distances. I also want to learn the way of international series like Kingdom, Resident Evil….
I told the team that if it was determined that the journey was long, everyone had to overcome difficulties. There is a very good saying: “When you think it’s so difficult that you think you have to give up, remember why you started”. We started because we wanted a Vietnamese zombie movie. The journey cannot be expected to be smooth. This life is not favorable at all, but there we always have the right to choose whether to look positive or negative. So we determine where is wrong and fix it there. The crew and the director are all demanding and trying.
Nhat Trung said he did not expect the film to be strongly reacted.
Many viewers said that they could not stand the absurdity of the film, for example, when they saw the part where the character was close to death, still singing, they left the theater. What do you think about the audience’s reaction?
I think the audience reaction is also right. Not that you have a good idea will make a good movie. That belongs to the skill of the director. The director has just made his first film, so he still has a lot to learn. I believe the director now regrets, if edited, will do differently. But this is clearly the fun of this profession, not knowing what will happen in advance. You are successful but then you can fail immediately.
Me and the crew can’t make any excuses about the film’s limitations
He once shared that he stayed up until 5 am to read comments from the audience when the trailer and poster were released. When the film was released, the number of comments was more and more harsh. How are your feelings?
I think what’s important is how we deal with the problem. It is not true to say that I do not read the criticism of the audience. Any filmmaker reads the audience’s comments about the film they produce.
As a producer, I think I tried to do my best. But to get a good product depends on many factors.
If talking about the audience’s reaction, the Zombie Isle is still not as heavy as the second film I made, which is Journey to the West after the story. At that time, the film was beaten so much that my parents did not dare to go to church. At that time, my skills were too weak, but I wanted to make movies with strange themes and many effects. The pressure that I was under was terrible but I finally overcame it with my serious efforts. Thanks to that, then I had Sunny, Ghost Hospital, 49 Days, Crab Lai Wife.
Journey to the West after the story, Body Swapping are my first two projects and both are disaster movies. I still don’t give up because the profession chooses me, I’m sure I have the right points. I have shared that with young directors. I came up from failure so you guys fail, I’m still by your side. I believe the director doesn’t want the movie to fail. However, at that time, they did not have enough factors to succeed. I believe that when each person keeps the fire of their profession and continues to strive with seriousness, they will one day succeed.
Director and producer Nhat Trung admitted that the film still has many limitations. He listened to the audience’s comments with a demanding attitude.
He claims to have emerged from the disaster movie. With Zombie Island, do you think this is a disaster movie?
I still hold the view that the audience is always right. And each of us will have our own opinion. If the audience says Zombie Island is a disaster movie, then it is a disaster. In this industry, we will understand for ourselves what our films are good and weak. My team and I did not make excuses or explain anything about the film’s limitations. If the movie doesn’t convince the audience, it means I’m bad.
However, I still wish that at some point I could make a film that made the audience whisper that Vietnamese films could also make zombie movies like foreign ones. Therefore, the team chose to confront, not give up.
But the first part is criticized, the second part will be difficult for the audience to trust your Vietnamese zombie product?
Affected for sure. But in the world, some series are not successful at first. For example, the first 2 parts of Fast & Furious were not noticed, from part 3 onward, the audience loved it.
In the second part, surely the team of the Zombie Isle must change. All other industries, no matter how large, if they do not change with the times, will die. This life does not change means difficult to survive. But how specifically the second part changes, I cannot say in advance.
Vietnamese cinema has too many difficult things but is still developing
Director Nguyen Huu Tuan once said that: a film failure, the biggest responsibility belongs to the director and producer. Looking back, what was your responsibility for the film’s reaction?
Filmmaking is a collective work that requires everyone’s efforts. The failure of the film is the failure of many people. As a team, just like the team, it is impossible for a goal to change the blame for the goalkeeper not being able to stop the ball. Of course, each person will be responsible for their part. There is no reason for me to deny my failure, my responsibility. If you do that, other people won’t agree.
Image of zombies in the movie Zombie Island.
From the failure of the Zombie Isle, can it be said that the fatal weakness of Vietnamese films is still the script?
Vietnam does not have schools that teach screenwriting and process the stages of film production. Currently, we are learning and making processes for the scripting team. Of course, it is very difficult to get an excellent script, but it will be a good one if you build the right process.
Weak script is the limitation of Vietnamese movies for many years. Surely this will have to be overcome in the coming years because according to the law of supply and demand, the market will discard what remains unchanged. Whoever exists will have to change.
2022 is said to be the year of loss for Vietnamese cinema. How do you see the future of Vietnamese cinema?
In general, Vietnamese producers still have many difficult things to face such as funding, technology, capacity, script, and mechanism. The hardest part is understanding what the audience wants and likes. That’s the question that comes to my mind every time I start a project. No director or producer dares to pat his chest, claiming to be a popular filmmaker.
Either way, I believe Vietnamese movies are still developing. In 2022, the revenue of Vietnamese films decreased because there were few films, mainly showing old movies, backlog due to the epidemic, unable to be released.
In Vietnam, there are 12 directors making hundreds of billion movies, but most of them have not returned. This year, only two hundred billion directors have released films including Vo Thanh Hoa (The Key to One Hundred Billion Dollars), Phan Gia Nhat Linh (Em and Trinh) and their films have had good sales. In the near future, there will be director Bao Nhan – Namcito with Girl from the Past, and on Tet holiday there will be a film by Tran Thanh and director Vu Ngoc Dang – Sisters and Sisters.