Dual-use tourism or how to make films in Thailand
Many people in their childhood dreamed of becoming movie stars . Some dreams have come true, but the overwhelming majority of their dreams are buried, deciding that the priority right of opening stars in the sky of world cinema belongs to astronomers from the producer's observatories of Hollywood . And if you live somewhere in blessed Chelyabinsk, from which even seven days of download - Hollywood does not pay , then from the brilliant career of a movie star you want or not, and you have to refuse . But you should not give up so quickly . Because even in this difficult situation, Thailand will come to your aid .
Now more than a hundred movies. Most of them are produced by companies of local, Thai bottling. But there are foreign labels. For example, the intermediary company Santa International for the last ten years managed to organize on the territory of the Kingdom of Thailand shooting movies for such famous offices as Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, Paramount or Warner Bros. Pictures. Do you begin to understand what will be discussed now?
As a rule, film crews come to the country of smiles already with their actors and backups. But very often it turns out that they did not take their actors on the road, and they quickly ended. And here on the screen there are random passers-by by chance: waiters, prostitutes, tourists. It was they, these happy people, who invented the Thai folk wisdom that all roads to Hollywood begin in Thailand. And in some ways they are right.
Funny girls of the big boss
It may sound funny or sad, but it's true: the first Thai actors of the extras in the popular foreign action movie were girls of easy virtue from the movie "The Big Boss". The film was filmed by the young Hong Kong film company Golden Harvest. Its director, Mr. Raymond Chow, offered the lead role in the movie "Big Boss" to the rising star of the screen and the master of kung fu Bruce Lee. So, first the blinding sun of the talent of Bruce Lee, and the Thai hetaera joined the world of world cinema, rose above the dark world kinorizor.
The Big Boss picture was shot near Bangkok, in the Thai village of Pak Chong. This is how Bruce Linda Lee's wife later described this place: "It was a ruinous place, a hole in the hole, it's hard for a normal person to imagine, there's not enough imagination."
The film became really extremely noticeable: he collected an amazing cash register, and the audience said that in the cinema world came a new style of martial arts choreography, where in questions of movement Bruce Lee stepped over the existing physical limitations of the human body. In addition, this film gave Thailand a "start in life": since 1971, filming foreign films in the Kingdom of Yellow Apparels has become a routine.
By the way, "Big Boss" is the only film in the career of Bruce Lee, which contains an erotic episode with a master of kung fu . Sam Lee later recalled that all the scenes with prostitutes in this film were filmed in a real Thai brothel, and the women there were disgusting . Girls in the role of prostitutes were found there, in a brothel near the village of Pak Chong . They practically did not pay anything, because with the group had to save even on food: Raymond Chow, who invested his personal money in the shoot, trembled over every bat and wanted most of all that the investments brought at least a small income . However, to the great pleasure of the producer, the success of the film exceeded all expectations . And to our great regret, the names of these feminine pioneers of the Thai extras were not mentioned even in the credits .
| adr from the movie "Big Boss" |
| Views Phuket Islands |
| VIP cinema in one of the Thai hotels |
Diary of Bridget Jones
Soon it will be exactly forty-five years, as the process of organizing filming in the Kingdom of Thailand began to deal with the already mentioned company Santa International Film Productions. Founded in the late 60s by an Indian named Santa Pestanji, this firm was at one time the largest agent of Hollywood in the countries of Southeast Asia.
The beginning of the business of the company Santa International came in the heyday of color cinema. Cinemas grew in Bangkok like mushrooms after the rain, until in 1977 a special government decree in Thailand did not significantly increase fees for the rental of Hollywood movies and Hollywood announced a boycott to Thailand. However, the newly vacated niche was immediately occupied by Thai film studios. The number of new Thai films that appeared on screens in 1978 alone exceeded a hundred and fifty.
It is worth noting that the owner of Santa International was personally acquainted with many North American celebrities, including the producer of the films "Basic Instinct" and "Die Hard" by Mario Cassar and his Oscar-winning friend, directed by Oliver Stone. Also, it should be emphasized that Khun Santa was the same person, thanks to which the beach of Nai-Yang appeared in the film "The Bridget Jones Diary: The Boundaries of the Reasonable." The fact is that on this beach was the hotel of Mr. Santa's friend - Pearl Village. In this hotel, he settled the entire crew.
The film was shot on the island of Phuket for over a month and, to the great regret of the producers, could not repeat the success of the first part. The shooting team "Diary of Bridget Jones 2" all in general as something immediately did not work out. Arrived at the shooting later, all Hugh Grant for a long time could not explain to the sleepy girls at the front desk that he had a room booked at Pearl Village. Courageous ladies of registration files perfectly kept the defense and as a counterattack they asked the artist to repeat his name in letters.
"There is no such reservation, mister, say your name and surname in full," they insisted to him.
As a result, almost the entire crew gathered at the reception desk. Such a large number of people attracted the attention of tourists from Donetsk, who sat in the Pearl Village lobby, who identified Hugh Grant before the placement staff.
"And he is not healthy at all," one of them said gloomily, looking like a retired boxer.
"Let's give him a tambourine," the other agreed indirectly. - It will be that at home I will tell you: Hugh Grant himself has his face plastered!
The filming process usually began at 6 am and ended, usually, shortly before sunset .People for extras of the "Bridget Jones Diary" were recruited directly from the hotel staff .Waitresses, porters, and even maids-all went to the business .They also thought about attracting the figures of vacationers in the hotel for foggy rear plans, but at the last moment the director somehow decided to abandon this idea .It is possible that the director changed his mind after accidentally encountered somewhere in the restaurant with tourists from Donetsk .During the filming of the scene at the airport, the airport itself operated as usual, and next to the set was registration for the flight and baggage handling of hundreds of travelers flying to different countries .By the way, it may very well be that on this day our compatriots flew from Phuket to Moscow and our compatriots with you: filming took place in the second half of December, just during the mass arrivals to the island of Phuket tourists from Russia .
Dual-use tourism
To date, the number of foreign films shot in Thailand has long been expressed in three-digit numbers .If the tempo of attracting film companies to Thailand remains at the same level, soon there will not be a single country on the world map that has not yet used the hospitable Thai land to organize a film or an advertising clip here .The Kingdom of Thailand has already been visited by film crews from almost all countries in Europe, Asia, North America .It is trying to catch up the lost ground and Russia: the domestic "shooting season" was opened here in 2005 by Maxim Voronkov's film "The Thai voyage of Stepanich" .And last year, director Marius Vaisberg finished in Pattaya work on the movie "Love in the City 2" .
Of course, to become even a hero in the background, you must have the ability to be at the right time in the right place. But I'll tell you this: the number of film companies coming to Thailand is growing year by year. Almost continuously, there are shootings of foreign television series in the resorts of Phuket and Hua Hin. Very often actors of extras for such paintings are searched even through local newspapers. And, as you can guess, the only requirement for such actors is an easily executable condition of "having a European appearance."
By the way, if you like movies in the conventional sense of the word: comfortable chair, popcorn, good sound - you can instead of trying hard to revive the long-dead dream of "becoming a movie star" just go to a movie show .And that, quite a worthy decision .In Thailand, the progress has now reached the point where not only films in hotels .They are still in the same hotels and show .In small hotel VIP cinemas .Well, if you suddenly fear that the actors throughout the whole film will chatter in a language that you do not understand, and you, as luck would have it, "speak English little," Thailand has a solution for you and this problem .In the recently opened on the island of Lanta Rawi Warin Resort & Spa specially for those who know the English, a collection of films is added, duplicated in Russian .And even if after this someone has the most Russian language will turn to say that "Russians in Thailand do not like", then I do not know what to advise you .Unless to find anywhere in the hotel Rawi Warin Resort & Spa Hollywood actor Hugh Grant and as it should, that was something to remember, charge him in the tambourine .