Thailand’s premier director Prachya Pinkaew was the man who helmed Tony Jaa’s first two films as a leading man Ong Bak & Tom Yum Goong (Warrior King/The Protector) as well as Chocolate which introduced action actress Jija Yanin, The Kick and made his English language debut with the thriller Elephant White, starring Kevin Bacon & Djimon Hounsou. He’s currently in the midst of production on the highly anticipated Tom Yum Goong 2 in 3D, with Tony Jaa and Jija Yanin as the leads.
IMPACT: You’re currently shooting the highly anticipated TOM YUM GOONG 2. There’s been a lot of talk about the film, a lot of rumours - what can you tell us about the film?
PRACHYA PINKAEW: I hear a lot of ‘stories’ about our film, often from people who claim to have inside information, but just seem to want to make a lot of noise and get attention for themselves…”look at me I have the inside track to this production...’, but they never credit a source etc. It’s very easy to say bad things about a production and claim ‘an insider told me’ without saying who it was, and even when the information is false, the damage has already been done.
The shooting of the original Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong took time, we had starts and stops on those shoots too... but at that time we weren’t as well known, so people didn’t hear about those delays or production problems. Now people know who we all are, so they want to hear everything good and bad! (Laughing) I feel very lucky that I work in Thailand, I work with a very good partner, my boss at Sahmongkol Films is very understanding, he understands that we want to make the best movie we can and that might take a little bit more time sometimes than originally planned for. Perhaps if I was making an international or English language movie I wouldn’t have as much freedom with regards to schedules and freedom.
IMPACT: There's some high expectations of Tom Yum Goong 2 from martial-arts fans. Is there the same anticipation for the finished result from your side of the camera?
PP: I am very excited about Tom Yum Goong 2. As you know this film is a big reunion for myself, my action director Panna Rittikrai and our leading man, Tony Jaa... with the addition of our female martial arts hero Jija Yanin to the project, as well as some other very interesting and talented co-stars. And this time we’re taking the film and the action another step further by shooting in 3D, so we’re taking the time to make this really effective and make the best possible film we can. It’s very exciting for us and I really think it’ll be very exciting for the audience…
Tony came back after recovering but we had to take another break for almost a month as he was getting married and taking care of family business, (Laughing) and then we had another surprise when Jija, our lead actress got pregnant and we couldn’t really shoot any action scenes with her in that condition, she’s integral to the film so we had to work around that situation too! It’s been a very interesting and exciting shoot both in front and behind the camera!
Panna, Tony, our entire team, we did a lot of research and preparation; we shot footage and if we didn’t feel that the footage was the best we could deliver, we went back and reshot it. Everything we have been doing is for the benefit of the film, we have put all of our hearts and minds focus on making this the very best film for our audience.
IMPACT: The 3D aspect is becoming very popular - can you explain why it's so important to you?
PP: You know a lot of people have started making films in 3D, I’ve always been a fan of the 3D genre, ever since I was young. I always liked the 3D movies, to me they’re very exciting, it feels very interactive when a film is in 3D and I don’t think that anyone has ever really done a full on 3D martial arts film previously... they’ve had 3D sequences or in some cases had the 3D element added in post-production, but I don’t think anyone has really made a full blooded 3D martial arts movie until this one.
When I was young and I first saw and experienced 3D it was something that felt very immersive. It felt like we were in the middle of the action - I was ducking and reacting to the action. That’s what I want the audience to experience this time round. A lot of Hollywood films, they seem to focus on the surroundings, make you feel like you’re in the location, but to me I really like the feeling of 3D breaking out of the screen and affecting the audience! We’re making a martial arts movie, to me that’s something that is perfectly suited to 3D, lets really make use of the 3D element, make it almost interactive with the audience. I want punches and kicks, and weapons coming right at the audience. I want them to feel like they might get hurt watching the movie! (Laughing) They’re not just watching the high impact fights and stunts, they’re part of it!
Of course I don’t want to overdo the 3D, I don’t want to give the audience a headache that everything on screen is constantly poking them in the eye etc, but at the right times totally immerse them in the 3D, make them part of the movie!
IMPACT: There's a lot to master on the technical side, especially when a martial-arts film shoots in 3D?
PP: We’ve spent a lot of time on this movie, a lot of pre-production, trying to master the ins and outs of the 3D system we’re using, it’s not as simple as just pointing a 3D camera and shooting what happens, you have to change the choreography, the camerawork etc to make the 3D work properly, that takes time to do properly, good 3D takes time…we also had the huge floods that have closed down sections of Bangkok, that affected our schedule, the floods shut down the whole city you know?
Then after the flooding and we moved back into production on one of the big action sequences, the one I showed you, the wild motorcycle chase and fight on the roof, you can see that scene wasn’t going to be easy to shoot, and one shot that we’re actually going to use in the movie, Tony got quite badly injured, the timing on one stunt was off and he was out of action for just under two months. We got the shot and all of us have agreed we will be using it in the film, but it was a hard hit!
IMPACT: You made your English language debut with the thriller Elephant White, starring Kevin Bacon. It’s an enjoyable film, but to me it didn’t seem like a Prachya Pinkaew movie. Do you have interest in making more English language/international movies?
PP: Yes, of course... I am very interested in making more international/English language movies, I learned a lot on the first English movie I made (Elephant White). Perhaps it wasn’t quite the movie that everyone was expecting me to make but I feel that I learnt a lot about film-making when we were working on that film, it was a good introduction to the way the American system expects you to work. If I can make another international movie, I think it will still be in the action/martial arts genre, ideally something that’s full of stunts and action like the Fast & Furious movies, I really think there’s a lot of potential out there
IMPACT: After TYG 2 what’s next for Prachya Pinkaew?
PP: After we finish Tom Yum Goong 2, I think I might do something small, maybe another 3D movie but something like a ghost movie, a scary movie. I think for this kind of movie I can really play around with the ghost genre and especially with the 3D element, for this kind of movie I can bring things out of the screen, break the fourth wall, and really affect the audience, with this kind of movie I can really make the audience jump. There are other action projects that I have ideas for but I am not ready to talk about them just yet.
Thanks to Prachya Pinkaew for the interview and to Chaya Supannarat for setting up the interview and helping with translation.
