Entertainment Tonight Interview

Entertainment Tonight Transcript Tuesday, 30-Nov-1999

The following is the transcript for Entertainment Tonight featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Andrew Macdonald, the producer of The Beach. They are speaking out in an interview recorded in LA last week.

Thanks to Richard of Footsteps on The Beach and Leofans.com for putting together this transcript.

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COMMENTATOR: Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie about an island paradise has been shrouded in controversy since it started filming. Some locals claim Hollywood came in and destroyed their island. Well, now for the first time the star is speaking out.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: If I knew or thought that there was any damage being done to that island I wouldn't have been part of the movie.

COMMENTATOR: 8,000 miles from Hollywood, on a remote island off the coast of Thailand, Leonardo DiCaprio and the cast and crew of The Beach found themselves in hot water with local environmentalists who claimed the production destroyed the island's natural eco system.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: There was a lot of misinformation floating around about the condition of the island and what we were doing, that was never corrected in the media. That was never corrected in the public.

COMMENTATOR: What is clear is that last January 250 cast and crew members of The Beach arrived at Maya Bay on Phi Phi Le island to shoot for two weeks. As seen in this exclusive footage, what they found was a beachfront that more resembled a trash heap than an island paradise.

ANDREW MACDONALD: The beach when we got there was completely covered in trash. Over three tonnes of the stuff was there.

COMMENTATOR: So, with the Thai government's blessing producers undertook a major clean-up. At the same time and against the wishes of some local activists, the production relocated some native vegetation which they promised to replant upon the completion of their filming.

ANDREW MACDONALD: This is about May, June of '98....and this is how it is now.

COMMENTATOR: Today, as promised, Maya Bay has been returned to it's natural beauty minus the trash.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: The studio invited numerous environmental organizations to the island while we were shooting and they have all said that there has been no damage done to the island from the production of The Beach there. It has been given a clean bill of health.

COMMENTATOR: The film scheduled for a February release is about a young adventurer's quest for paradise which ultimately goes bad. For Leo the making of the film was a test of his own environmental convictions.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: It wouldn't have been that important to me to do a film if I thought that there was, you know, irreparable damage being done to an island.

COMMENTATOR: And there is more evidence of Leonardo's commitment to environmental issues. He has agreed to head up Earth Day 2000.