Hollywood stars visit Hanoi’s Hoa Lo Prison

Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and the crew take a photo at the gate of Hoa Lo Prison on March 10, 2023. Photo by Hoa Lo Prison Relic

A spokesperson for the relic said the actors and their crew spent an hour there.

The visit is among the activities meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of Vietnamese soldiers following the 1973 Paris Peace Accords and the 48th anniversary of Reunification Day (Apr. 30, 1975), according to Vietnam Government Portal. The actors said later they were moved by the stories of its inmates.

Matthew McConaughey at Hoa Lo Prison on March 10, 2023. Photo by Hoa Lo Prison Relic

McConaughey, 54, rose to fame with his role in the 1993 film “Dazed and Confused” and has since, in his decorated career, starred in movies like “A Time to Kill” (1996), “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) and “Interstellar” (2014).

For his performance as a rodeo cowboy diagnosed with AIDS in “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013), he won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

Harrelson, 62, started his career in the mid-1980s and is known for his roles in hits like “Cool Blue” (1989), “Indecent Proposal” (1993), “No Country for Old Men” (2007)” and “Now You See Me” (2013).

He has had one Emmy and three Oscar nominations.

Woody Harrelson at Hoa Lo Prison on March 10, 2023. Photo by Hoa Lo Prison Relic

The two starred together in the critically acclaimed season 1 of the TV series “True Detective” in 2014. Each episode attracted an average viewership of 11.9 million in the U.S.

Hoa Lo Prison was built by the French in 1896 to house 450 prisoners but in fact kept 2,000 there. The French colonial administration had incarcerated Vietnamese revolutionaries there.

It was demolished in the 1990s with just a part of it retained as a relic.