Three times
'Ong-Bak 3' will try to keep the momentum of Thai action flicks going at Cannes Film Market
Published: 7/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Realtime
While a Thai arthouse film will grace the world's most coveted red carpet next week (see main story), another Thai flick will do its best to coo up interest - and distribution deals - at Cannes Film Market, a commercial trade event attached to the Cannes Film Festival. Ong-Bak 3 will squeeze the last drops of Tony Jaa's martial-arts sweat in a bid to repeat the original film's worldwide success.
‘‘The action for Ong-Bak 3 is more carefully designed and crafted,’’ says Tony Jaa. Now 34, Jaa maintains his fabled agility.
But since the second film proved less magical than the first, will the third represent a robust rebound?
"The action is more carefully designed and crafted," says Tony Jaa, or Panom Yeerum, the martial arts virtuoso who stars and directs the film that's currently playing in Thai theatres.
"We believe that in Ong-Bak 2, we reached the limit of what we could do with hand-to-hand combat. So in the third film, we have to push further. And we have come up with something more exciting, including a big scene with a whole herd of elephants."
The elephants are indispensable. Jaa was born into an elephant-keeping family in Surin, and in all his films - the three Ong-Baks and Tom Yum Goong - feature creative uses of elephants as live props to show off Jaa's ferocious athleticism.
"That's why the third film was slow in the making," he adds. "We ran into some problems with the protest at a Khmer ruin in Isan, then we had to spend two months training the elephants. In a scene like this, you have to let the beasts remember your smell, otherwise they won't co-operate with you."
The first Ong-Bak, from 2001, made 100 million baht at the local box-office - likewise the second film, released late in 2008 but drawing jeers from critics and even some audience members. His most successful film is Tom Yum Goong (2006), directed by Prachya Pinkaew, which raked in a massive 200 million baht at home, and more abroad. Over the decade Jaa has confirmed his presence as a phenomenon, a great ball of physical energy who has ignited the whole business of Thai action films.
Lately, Jaa has branched out into spiritual reflection; he tries to find peace amid his brand of cinematic violence. A paradox to some, yes, but he believes it's possible to reach dhamma through the concentration of energy and its circuitous flow through his body. To fix his mind and dance a muay Thai move, for example, is equivalent to a monk's walking pilgrimage.
"It's a form of meditation," Jaa says. "The goal of martial arts is the same as the goal of people who meditate - to find peace. Meditation is also a form of therapy and I need that.
"Making Ong-Bak 2 and 3 is like hard labour," he laughs. "But it's taught me a lot as a director and as a person. It's like muay Thai combat. Sometimes you're on the offensive, but sometimes you have to retreat. It's just like that."
Now 34, Jaa maintains his fabled agility; that gymnastic spectacle that propelled him to fame is intact. But for how long?
"I love what I do, and it gives me strength to do it," he says. "But no, I can't keep doing it forever. I may become a full-time director, or a stunt director, I don't know. But I think about my future. Only that now, I still enjoy what I'm doing."
'Ong-Bak 3' will try to keep the momentum of Thai action flicks going at Cannes Film Market
Published: 7/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Realtime
While a Thai arthouse film will grace the world's most coveted red carpet next week (see main story), another Thai flick will do its best to coo up interest - and distribution deals - at Cannes Film Market, a commercial trade event attached to the Cannes Film Festival. Ong-Bak 3 will squeeze the last drops of Tony Jaa's martial-arts sweat in a bid to repeat the original film's worldwide success.
‘‘The action for Ong-Bak 3 is more carefully designed and crafted,’’ says Tony Jaa. Now 34, Jaa maintains his fabled agility.
But since the second film proved less magical than the first, will the third represent a robust rebound?
"The action is more carefully designed and crafted," says Tony Jaa, or Panom Yeerum, the martial arts virtuoso who stars and directs the film that's currently playing in Thai theatres.
"We believe that in Ong-Bak 2, we reached the limit of what we could do with hand-to-hand combat. So in the third film, we have to push further. And we have come up with something more exciting, including a big scene with a whole herd of elephants."
The elephants are indispensable. Jaa was born into an elephant-keeping family in Surin, and in all his films - the three Ong-Baks and Tom Yum Goong - feature creative uses of elephants as live props to show off Jaa's ferocious athleticism.
"That's why the third film was slow in the making," he adds. "We ran into some problems with the protest at a Khmer ruin in Isan, then we had to spend two months training the elephants. In a scene like this, you have to let the beasts remember your smell, otherwise they won't co-operate with you."
The first Ong-Bak, from 2001, made 100 million baht at the local box-office - likewise the second film, released late in 2008 but drawing jeers from critics and even some audience members. His most successful film is Tom Yum Goong (2006), directed by Prachya Pinkaew, which raked in a massive 200 million baht at home, and more abroad. Over the decade Jaa has confirmed his presence as a phenomenon, a great ball of physical energy who has ignited the whole business of Thai action films.
Lately, Jaa has branched out into spiritual reflection; he tries to find peace amid his brand of cinematic violence. A paradox to some, yes, but he believes it's possible to reach dhamma through the concentration of energy and its circuitous flow through his body. To fix his mind and dance a muay Thai move, for example, is equivalent to a monk's walking pilgrimage.
"It's a form of meditation," Jaa says. "The goal of martial arts is the same as the goal of people who meditate - to find peace. Meditation is also a form of therapy and I need that.
"Making Ong-Bak 2 and 3 is like hard labour," he laughs. "But it's taught me a lot as a director and as a person. It's like muay Thai combat. Sometimes you're on the offensive, but sometimes you have to retreat. It's just like that."
Now 34, Jaa maintains his fabled agility; that gymnastic spectacle that propelled him to fame is intact. But for how long?
"I love what I do, and it gives me strength to do it," he says. "But no, I can't keep doing it forever. I may become a full-time director, or a stunt director, I don't know. But I think about my future. Only that now, I still enjoy what I'm doing."
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