Producers have been forced to scrap a scene planed for the next Batman film after realising just how polluted Hong Kong's harbour has become. In the scene axed from "The Dark Knight", Batman was supposed to leap from a plane into Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour and then climb out of the water onto a pier.
But after analysing water samples taken from the harbour, the production team was forced to rethink the scene. The harbour is heavily polluted with industrial effluent as well as sewage from residential areas. The South China Morning Post quoted the World Wildlife Fund's conservation director Any Cornish as saying, "Swimming in the harbour is not recommended to anyone, not even Batman."
This is the latest health and safety issue surrounding the film, following the death of a special effects technician on 24 September 2007, who crashed while on a stunt test run in Longcross, Surrey. The man in question was on a camera truck which was following a stunt vehicle, believed to have been the Batmobile. The incident is currently being investigated by Surrey Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
