Bandit Thongdee

Director:

• Mercury Man/Ma Noot Lhek Lai (2006)
• The Unborn/The Mother, Hian (2004)
• Monpleng Luktung F.M./Hoedown Showdown (2003)

 

What made you decide to become a film director?

Bandit Thongdee: I have liked, no, loved the cinema ever since I was a kid. When I was young, I lived in the Suphanburi province. Our house was next to a temple. Very often, when there was a funeral, they would show movies at the temple. I lived with my grandmother but she didn’t like us to stay up and watch movies at night. She wanted us to go to school in the morning. So I would wait until she fell asleep and then I would sneak out. At that time I was about 6-7. They were showing those films very often, once or twice a week. Thai cinema was booming then. Thai films were still very popular. We all watched Sombat Metanee, Sorapong Chatree… So I became a director because I really liked movies. That was my inspiration.

Have you ever regretted that decision?

B.T.: Well, my life has changed, that’s certain. From being a person that nobody knows you’re suddenly in the centre of attention. I’m not disappointed but somehow my destiny has changed.

What are your cinematic inspirations? Do you remember the first movie that made an impression on you?

B.T.: To be honest with you I’ve watched a lot of movies in my life, American, Thai, Chinese… But in my childhood I was exposed more to HK kung-fu movies, because there wasn’t much Hollywood cinema in Thailand in those days. After some time big Hollywood movies started coming in, like Jaws, or King Kong, but there were still not too many of them. My favourite foreign movie has always been ET. Because when I first saw it I was impressed by the image and the technology behind it. I had watched many Thai and HK movies before that but I never saw anything like it. You could see a spaceship and aliens. And the bicycle floating in front of the moon. It really made me want to make a movie. You could see that film is like a miracle of imagination.

Were there any particular filmmakers who influenced you in your career?

B.T.: Yes. The director who made the biggest impression on me in my early days was Vijit Kunawut, a Thai director who made Luk Isan. Most movies I saw as a kid were either action or comedies. But somehow he made a drama about the hardship of life of the people in Isan, in North-Eastern Thailand. I found it very touching. I still get sentimental about that movie. I was about 7-8 when I saw it. And another director is Spielberg, after ET. I was about 10 when I started to remember his name.

How difficult was it to make your first film?

B.T.: Very, very difficult. Because it was a difficult concept to begin with. The studio gave me a project that included over 100 superstar Thai country singers. And I had to make a story out of it. And it had to make sense, so that the audience could see it was a film not just a concert. As you know, all these superstars, they are always travelling around the country, into different provinces. It’s hard to get the shooting schedule for just one person but I had to do all of them, which was very difficult. The film was based on a concept from the Sahamongkol studio, but I used my experience of growing up with Thai country music outside of Bangkok.

So how did you solve your scheduling problem?

B.T.: How did I solve the problem? First of all, I had to get rid of the script the way it was written. Because it was impossible to shoot according to the script. Instead, I started writing a new script around the schedule of the cast. In that way I could calm down, relax and improvise. But I still had to control the core concept.

What are the most difficult things in the life of a director?

B.T.: When you’re a Thai director you don’t get much money but you do get a lot of social value. The worst part is that you may find it difficult to make a living, because without getting the percentage from the film sales, the money is low. From the outside it may look like you’re very powerful because you’re controlling the movie, you should have a nice house and a flashy car. But the truth is that 70% of directors in Thailand can barely make a living. Somehow, if you’re really good you might make it, but there’s not so many of those who have.

And the benefits?

B.T.: The benefits? You have a chance to work with a lot of people, so you learn more about people. You also learn how to control your emotions. In fact you learn a lot of things – how to be more responsible, how to solve problems. And you will never be afraid of doing bigger jobs any more.

Do you see yourself as a “new generation” director or a “veteran” of the business?

B.T.: I’m more of the new generation than a veteran. Because I haven’t done that much fighting yet. Some of my movies made profit, some didn’t. But I’m not like P’Pud (Prachya Pinkaew) or P’Uncle (Adirek Wattaleela). I’m still a new kid on the block. I’ve been making films for 6 years. But I worked in the music industry for 8 years before that, making music videos and also one year in television drama. So it’s 15 years in total. I made two television dramas, and at least 200 music videos. I tried to keep copies of all my work before but in the end it was too much.

So how do you compare working on such different projects as music videos, television drama and film?

B.T.: Making movies gives you more creative freedom. With music videos you have to base the video on the concept of the artist, or singer, and the marketing plan of the record company. They tell you how to shoot the song. You have a framework set for you in advance. You cannot do anything that goes beyond the concept. And as for TV drama… it’s something that I don’t want to talk about. The method sucks. The Thai audience has a very concrete idea of what drama is and you cannot go beyond that. The Thai audience wants to see the same old drama over and over again so the producers keep repeating the same things over and over and you cannot be creative at all. But in movies you can do whatever you want to do, as long as you’ve got the money to support it. It’s more fun to make a movie, and if I could choose I would stick to movies.

And did working with music influence your other work?

B.T.: It had a great influence on my work. I make my movies to a musical rhythm. I know how to play with the rhythm. I can use the rhythm to divert the audience’s attention.

You have recently started producing films as well. How different is that from directing?

B.T.: It’s very different. Because I see the director as an artist, as the guy who creates an image, a painter or sculptor, doing whatever his mind is telling him. And the producer is like a businessman. When I act as a producer I have to understand the director and understand the studio. So I have to go over to the business side. A producer should know how to negotiate with both the artist and the investor and know how to achieve a compromise good for everyone. But if I am a director I don’t have to care about it, I just work. If I had a choice I would prefer to be a producer. Because I’m good at compromising and I understand the director’s part but somehow I don’t think I can be a director for the rest of my life. I’m not Spielberg. And here in Thailand, many directors leave their names in the hall of fame but they can’t make ends meet. Plus it’s also very difficult to be a director in Thailand because of the limitations imposed on us by the censorship from the government. As a result it’s hard to make something new and original and without that you can’t beat the competition. Like for instance, if I wanted to do a movie about cop shooting or corruption, let’s say a good cop and a bad cop… in the end the real cop will show up... So I can’t make a story out of it.

What are the movies you are going to produce in the nearest future?

B.T.: Right now Nakprok. And another one that’s in pre-production is Mahalay Sayong Kwan – Ghost in the University. The director used to be my AD (Assistant Director) before and I directed a horror film myself once so I wanted to do more horror films. But he’s still writing the script. And Nakprok is in post-production.

If you could have a choice between making a movie which would be a huge commercial success and one that would be a huge artistic success, which one would you prefer?

B.T.: I’d prefer to stay in the middle. But if I really had to pick then maybe I’d go with the first option. Because unlike in other countries, Thailand is not open to a variety of movie genres. In Japan, for instance, the studios will invest some money in art movies, but Thai studios are not so strong yet. If we choose to make an art movie the investors usually lose their money and they won’t invest in filmmaking again. So in the end, I would lose credibility. I have to think about the investors but this does not mean that I’m going to make some junk. I don’t want to make a film that you just watch and forget about it immediately because it does not make you think.

What do you think about the Thai film audience? To what extent does the audience determine what kinds of films are made in Thailand?

B.T.: The Thai audience still has very little experience of movie genres. They like mostly comedies and horror and they have set expectations. If they watch a horror movie they want to be scared. If the director is a comedian they assume they’ll be laughing. Nowadays we can see a trend in Thai cinema that a comedy should be directed by a comedian. If the movie is not directed by a comedian it doesn’t make money. I think that in other countries people are more open-minded when it comes to watching movies. The Thai audience has a problem with more difficult or experimental films because they don’t like to think too much. They like something fast. If it’s action it has to be pure action, very clear in the theme of the movie. It has to be pure entertainment, no philosophy, no theory. Otherwise they’re not going to take it.

Your latest film, Mercury Man introduces a masked superhero to Thai cinema. It’s also a kind of an experiment.

B.T.: Yes, it’s another experiment. Again, the concept came from the studio. They wanted me to make something about mercury. But they wanted something about mercury and mystery and I adapted it into a superhero movie because I thought we didn’t have any films like that. I thought if Thai people like superheroes like Spiderman or X-men then why can’t we make a superhero movie in Thailand? I’ve always liked Spiderman. I think he moves in a really smooth way, not like Superman, who acts like a robot. So I picked Spiderman as my reference for the character of Mercury Man.

Mercury Man is supposed to be a Thai superhero. What’s so Thai about the character?

B.T.: The pattern on the costume is very Thai. It’s called Yant Gao Yord because it looks like a Buddhist tattoo. And obviously the movement is inspired by Thai boxing.

So was the audience ready for a Thai superhero?

B.T.: The audience was not ready. Some people liked it some didn’t, but not too many people went to see it in the first place, according to the box office. It did not draw the audience in at all. There was definitely a marketing problem there, but also it was a new thing. The audience perhaps wasn’t quite sure that we could really make a film like that. They expected something more like the real Spiderman but I don’t have to tell you that the budgets of these two movies were very different. Still, somehow people pay the same money for a ticket so they chose Spiderman over Mercury Man.

You spent three years working on Mercury Man. Some directors in Thailand still make straight-to-DVD films in a week or so. What are the benefits of devoting so much time to one film project?

B.T.: I got better work in terms of production value, idea and detail. Also, since it was an experimental piece it took a lot of time to discover what we could and what we could not do. We needed to work out the costume, script, locations, so it took a long time. You could say I got more experience and better details. And better quality.

Your earlier film, The Mother/The Unborn is a stylish ghost story. Where did you get the inspiration for the story from?

B.T.: This one did not come from the studio. It was actually inspired by a true story. I saw it on the news. There was an article about a pregnant woman who died and had to be cut open before she could get cremated. So I decided to use that motif, as many people find it scary. Many Thai people believe in the supernatural. I believe in it too, but I also believe in common sense.

So have you seen a ghost on the set?

B.T.: I didn’t see anything but my team claims they saw several. They heard a woman crying and when we were shooting in the hospital, they saw a shadow of a man inside the room. Most of my crew say they did. If I had seen it maybe I wouldn’t have finished the movie… But how can I see anything if everyone is always surrounding me on set? I can’t even go to the bathroom alone, it seems.

Horror movies seem to be quite popular with Thai filmmakers. Why do you think Thai directors make so many horror films?

B.T.: It’s because the belief in ghosts seems to be part of everyday life. So it’s easy to find an idea for a movie. There are so many ghosts in Thailand. Kumantong, Takien, Krasue… There’s so much information about them.

Is “Thai horror” a category different from American horror, or Japanese horror?

B.T.: In Thai horror film the ghost will be a more defined character. In American horror you have more violence. In Japan, the films are quieter and they have more scary moments. I think in Thailand we’re probably using a mixture of both. We’re somewhere in between the two.

Many Thai horror films include comic elements in unexpected moments. Can this be a specifically “Thai” feature?

B.T.: It is Thai style. But not all horror films do that. You don’t have comedy in The Unborn or in Shutter. But traditionally, in Thailand a ghost story had to be a comedy. A man running away from ghosts, running into a tree… Or films about Pop. They are not meant to be scary but funny. You just use the ghost as a background.

In general, how do you see Thai cinema today?

B.T.: It’s good in terms of creativity. Many Thai directors have been working together to get to where we are today. We see more imagination than before. But the audience still picks just the genres that they know, so you could say they have already decided how many Thai movies should be made. The good thing is that the filmmakers are still trying to make new films, they try to find more genres. Some movies make it, like Final Score, others don’t, like 13 Beloved. Also, generally, film production in Thailand is growing. The number of the films made in the last 4-5 years has increased greatly. We’re developing very fast in that area, we have good equipment and a lot of people with experience from the music industry and advertising come to work with filmmakers. We’ve improved tremendously in terms of image, camera angles...

And what about script writing? Script writing is often said to be one of the weaknesses of Thai cinema.

B.T.: Script writing is cooperative work in Thailand. The director will think of a concept, main storyline, or theme and then he starts looking for a story. Anybody can be a script writer, doesn’t matter if they are famous or inexperienced. Or sometimes the director writes the script himself. But we don’t have any companies specialising in script writing, like in some other countries. Basically, we are using the same formula as in Hollywood. One page one minute. Although somehow it seems that the Thai language is longer than English, so one page can become 1.20. I write my own scripts. I like scripts that have been given much thought and that have been reviewed before. I like to work with a locked script, which means I can think of picture rather than worry about the dialogue.

You mentioned that Thai films are often limited by small budgets. If you could have an unlimited budget what would be your dream project?

B.T.: I want to do a movie based on the story of Pech Pra Uma. It’s a Thai adventure story by Panom Tien. I’d like to make it into a big fantasy movie, like The Lord of the Rings.

What are your future plans?

B.T.: I’d like to stay in the film industry, maybe open a production house, like Baa-Ram-Ewe, or become a full-time producer. But I’d like to direct some more movies as well.

Anything you’d like to add?

B.T.: I just hope that the people who will read this interview will give Thai cinema a chance, that they will buy the ticket and go and see a Thai film. Don’t think that all Thai films are going to be bad. Don’t think that Thai cinema is all about silly comedies. Go and see for yourself.

The interview was conducted in 2007 in cooperation with Solarsin Ngoenwichit and appeared in Asian Journal of Literature, Culture and Society 1.2.