Batman stunt guys snub filthy Victoria Harbour

[DocMartin]

Report in today’s South China Morning Post, re stunt for coming Batman movie being abandoned because harbour water is too filthy, has made various papers etc. Google News picking up stories from Bangkok Post, Melbourne Herald Sun, and International Herald Tribune.
Helps show we’re not merely a World City of Smog; also got grotty water to make some news.
AFP report includes:

Quote:

Batman might cut a superhuman figure as he fights off evil-doers to save the world, but Hong Kong’s polluted harbour is, apparently, one death-defying stunt too far.

Producers shooting the next Batman movie have been forced to cut one scene involving the caped crusader — played by Christian Bale — jumping out of a plane into the city’s famed Victoria Harbour.

According to the South China Morning Post, producers felt the poor water quality was just too dangerous for the action hero when shooting for part of the film takes place here in the coming week.
…
“The plan was for Batman to be seen jumping into the water and then climbing up some bamboo, or something similar, onto a pier.

“But when they checked a water sample, they found all sorts of things, salmonella and tuberculosis, so it was cancelled. Now the action will cut to inside a building,” the source added.
…
As well as poor water, Hong Kong also suffers from air pollution that on many days leaves the city clouded in haze, partly caused by local power plants and emissions from factories in the neighbouring Pearl River Delta region in southern China.

Zap! Pow! Batman hit by Hong Kong pollution

[DocMartin]

Now, denial that story change in Batman was due to pollution – but is this true, or is this holy PR?

Quote:

Director Christopher Nolan said the scene was axed due to a script change, and that it had nothing to do with the health risk posed by the harbor's filthy water, as had been widely reported in Hong Kong media. "That was my decision (to cut the scene), nothing to do with pollution. It was simply a script decision," Nolan, who also directed the earlier "Batman Begins" told reporters in Hong Kong. "Once you see the finished film, you will understand why. As far as the pollution question goes, I honestly have no problem dumping actors in it."

Batman director says Hong Kong harbor pollution did not force scene cut

[Author]

Posts