[Travelhappy.info] BBC Tsunami Movie Requests Thai Extras To Play Corpses
1 view
Skip to first unread message
Chris
Jun 3, 2006, 9:56:40 PM6/3/06
to trave...@googlegroups.com
A BBC - HBO drama about the impact of the tsunami on Western characters has shown little sensitivity for the feelings of the thousands of Thais who lost loved ones during the tragedy
The Nation: The filming of a BBC-HBO mini-series about the tsunami along Thailand's Andaman coast has stunned and horrified residents still dealing with the aftermath of the 2004 disaster. It is too soon to turn the tragedy into a drama, they say.
The miniseries' star-studded cast includes Oscar-winning actor Tim Roth and Australian actress Toni Collette and is being made by the award-winning British production house Kudos Film and Television.
It focuses on the tsunami's effect on Western tourists. The main characters are "a young couple searching for their child, an Englishwoman whose husband and son are missing, an ambitious reporter, a relief worker and an overwhelmed British official", HBO said.
Almost all the speaking parts are being played by Westerners, but Thais are being hired to fill the background and portray corpses, the extras say.
Flyers advertising open auditions for minor characters and extras were plastered throughout Krabi province in April.
The flyers disgusted and outraged many people. Robert Reynolds, a director of a charity that assists tsunami orphans, recalls being "stunned".
"Jesus Christ! You can't put that up here," he said. What upset him most, he adds, "is that thing on the bottom [of the flyer]", referring to the casting call for corpses.
It reads: "Victim, man, woman, girl; any age, any nationality. A lot of people!"
A casting agent, Maew, said Western extras were being paid Bt1,500 per day and Thai extras were getting Bt400 a day.
She said filming had wrapped up in Phuket and had shifted to Khao Lak, the Thai resort where more than 2,000 lives were lost. Production will shift to Bangkok this month, she said.
"It doesn't make me very happy that they [the film-makers] are making money out of this," said Reynolds, a 10-year resident of Krabi whose five businesses were "all but wiped out" in the tsunami.
He said the mini-series' focus on Western tourists distorted the reality of what happened. "It's tragic that so many tourists died and that so many lost family members, but Thais lost everything. They had no homes to go back to," he said.
"But maybe that's a movie that won't grab viewers."
from The Nation newspaper, 3rd June 2006 - full article at ThaiVisa.com
--
Posted by Chris to Travelhappy.info at 6/03/2006 05:42:00 PM
The Nation: The filming of a BBC-HBO mini-series about the tsunami along Thailand's Andaman coast has stunned and horrified residents still dealing with the aftermath of the 2004 disaster. It is too soon to turn the tragedy into a drama, they say.
The miniseries' star-studded cast includes Oscar-winning actor Tim Roth and Australian actress Toni Collette and is being made by the award-winning British production house Kudos Film and Television.
It focuses on the tsunami's effect on Western tourists. The main characters are "a young couple searching for their child, an Englishwoman whose husband and son are missing, an ambitious reporter, a relief worker and an overwhelmed British official", HBO said.
Almost all the speaking parts are being played by Westerners, but Thais are being hired to fill the background and portray corpses, the extras say.
Flyers advertising open auditions for minor characters and extras were plastered throughout Krabi province in April.
The flyers disgusted and outraged many people. Robert Reynolds, a director of a charity that assists tsunami orphans, recalls being "stunned".
"Jesus Christ! You can't put that up here," he said. What upset him most, he adds, "is that thing on the bottom [of the flyer]", referring to the casting call for corpses.
It reads: "Victim, man, woman, girl; any age, any nationality. A lot of people!"
A casting agent, Maew, said Western extras were being paid Bt1,500 per day and Thai extras were getting Bt400 a day.
She said filming had wrapped up in Phuket and had shifted to Khao Lak, the Thai resort where more than 2,000 lives were lost. Production will shift to Bangkok this month, she said.
"It doesn't make me very happy that they [the film-makers] are making money out of this," said Reynolds, a 10-year resident of Krabi whose five businesses were "all but wiped out" in the tsunami.
He said the mini-series' focus on Western tourists distorted the reality of what happened. "It's tragic that so many tourists died and that so many lost family members, but Thais lost everything. They had no homes to go back to," he said.
"But maybe that's a movie that won't grab viewers."
from The Nation newspaper, 3rd June 2006 - full article at ThaiVisa.com
--
Posted by Chris to Travelhappy.info at 6/03/2006 05:42:00 PM
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages