KILLING FIELDS, THE 191
from Warner Bros. Actor- screenwriter Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I) wrote a
300- page draft of a screen adaptation, which Puttnam showed to vari ous directors
(including Louis Malle and Constantin Costa- Gavras) but was particularly taken
by the reaction of British TV director Roland Joffé, who said that it wasn’t a war
story but actually a love story between Dith Pran and Sydney Schanberg— a remark
that won him his first assignment as a feature film director. Regarding the casting
of an actor to play Sydney Schanberg, Warner Bros. wanted a big star but Puttnam
settled on Sam Waterston. Equipped with the right ethnicity, looks, and Mas sa chu-
setts accent, Waterston happily lacked the distracting baggage of a famous star.
Though he had no formal acting training, Dr. Haing S. Ngor was cast as Dith
Pran. A native Cambodian just two years older than Pran, Ngor had also endured
and escaped from Khmer Rouge captivity; no ordinary actor could have brought
more authenticity to the role.
Production
The Killing Fields was shot in fits and starts between March 1983 and August 1984,
mostly on location in Thailand but also in Toronto, New York City, and California.
Shots involving large he li cop ters in the scene where Pran’s family and other inter-
national diplomats are evacuated from Phnom Penh in 1975 were actually filmed
in San Diego in early 1984, almost seven months after principal photography in
Thailand.
Plot Summary
The setting is Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, 6 August 1973. The Cambodian
army is fighting a civil war with the Khmer Rouge (Communist Party of Kampu-
chea), a conflict instigated by the war in neighboring Vietnam. Dith Pran (Haing
S. Ngor), a Cambodian photojournalist and newspaper interpreter, waits for reporter
Sydney Schanberg to arrive at the airport, but is called away unexpectedly. Schan-
berg goes to his hotel and meets up with Al Rockoff ( John Malkovich). Pran later
connects with Schanberg and reveals that an American B-52 has bombed the town
of Neak Leung, killing and wounding hundreds of civilians. Schanberg and Pran
then travel to Neak Leung and confirm that the town has been completely deci-
mated. Two years later, in April 1975, Phnom Penh empties its embassies, know-
ing the Khmer Rouge is nearby and ruthless. Schanberg arranges to evacuate Pran,
his wife, and their four children; however, Pran demands to remain behind to assist
his friend. Khmer Rouge forces enter and occupy the capital. Schanberg encoun-
ters Rockoff at a city parade. Afterwards, a party of Khmer Rouge fighters finds
and arrests them, transporting them to a back alley in the city where captives are
being executed. They are later met by a detachment of the Khmer Rouge, who
immediately arrest them and take them through the city to a back alley where
prisoners are being executed. Pran negotiates on behalf of his comrades and uses
his sway as a Cambodian civilian to secure their release. The men go to the French
Embassy for help, but the Khmer Rouge want all Cambodians handed over to them.
Concerned that Pran will fall victim to imprisonment or death after the embassy
is overtaken, Rockoff and British press photographer Jon Swain ( Julian Sands) of