'Bourne Legacy' location manager raves about Pinoy hospitality

Film industry veteran Dow Griffith knows how to find the perfect location for movies, whether they're set in a fantasy world, in the 19th century, or even on another planet. His decades of experience as a motion picture location manager has brought him to over 85 countries, and most recently, the Philippines.

 

In a New York Times interview, Griffith talks about his experience in the Philippines, where he worked on the upcoming spy thriller "The Bourne Legacy." He says "the people are the best thing about it." In addition to Manila, the cast and crew also spent time in El Nido in Palawan.

 

While he said the congested city was consistent with the urban, gritty feel of the "Bourne" movies, Griffith said the people are the best thing about Manila. 

 

"Don’t be fooled by the signs everywhere that say ‘Check Your Firearms at the Door.’ Many citizens are packing, but you couldn’t meet more hospitable people," he said. He shared that the crew enjoyed personalized service at very affordable prices at the Mandarin Oriental Manila hotel, where they stayed.

 

According to an earlier report, the film's producers chose Manila over Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and Indonesia's Jakarta due to the hospitality shown by Filipinos. 

 

"They were happy that they chose to film in Manila rather than the other locations they considered in Vietnam and Indonesia,” Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office head Ricky Carandang said in the report. 

 

Early this year, the production crew members shot several scenes in Metro Manila, causing traffic jams and angering motorists.

 

Asked if he would return to Manila for vacation, Griffith said the city is "a good place to go to get somewhere else."

 

"The real reason to go to the Philippines is to explore its more than 7,000 islands, from the heights of the rice terraces of Banaue to dives with the whale sharks in Donsol — and that’s just on one island, Luzon," said Griffith, who also visited El Nido in Palawan, where several scenes of the movie were shot.

 

"El Nido, on Palawan Island, is paradise, and for a family trip, you are very well looked after at any of the resorts," said Griffith, who stayed at the high-end El Nido Resort in Bacuit Bay.

 

He also shared some of his experiences in Thailand, Vietnam and China, where he worked on "Avatar, The Last Airbender" and "Merchant of Shanghai."

 

Before leaving, "The Bourne Legacy" producers gave boxes of bags with school supplies to children in San Andres, Manila, where some scenes of the movie were shot earlier this year. –Carmela G. Lapeña/KG/HS, GMA News