In chatting with Wisit last night at the Ratana Pestonji 100 Years celebration at the National Film Archive, the first thing I had to bug him about, was, of course, Red Eagle.
He says he is still working on the script, and that it likely won't come out until next year. I didn't want to bug him any more than that, so that's really all there is to it for now.
When the project was announced in December, it was hoped he would start filming in March for a release in August. I was skeptical about that but kept concerns to myself. Wisit's films have usually been very involved processes. Take his amazing short film, Norasinghavatar, for example. It ended up costing more than six times the budget he was given. He had a vision, and stuck to that vision, whatever the cost, which in this case was 3 million baht (about US$94,000) -- he was initially given 400,000 baht. Tears of the Black Tiger and Citizen Dog were also uncompromising. The lone exception has been The Unseeable, which Wisit agreed from the start would be made quickly and inexpensively, as a favor to his producers at Five Star.
Red Eagle, a project he's been wanting to do for awhile, is going to take some more time. At one point, Wisit envisioned doing a two-parter, but Five Star wasn't sure about restarting the franchise -- they want to make one movie, see if it's a hit and then make a sequel.
Meanwhile, Insee Daeng designate Ananda Everingham is doing his bit to fan the red-hot flames of Red Eagle, posing for photos in Crush magazine. Lyn's Lakorn Blog has scans of the magazine spread.
I was a little nervous about Ananda being Red Eagle. And, when I talked to him about it back in December, Ananda was a little nervous about being Red Eagle. But seeing the photos eases my apprehension. I think he might be able to pull it off.
Ananda, by the way, is just about everywhere in Bangkok. He has three movies coming out back to back. He's starring in the slick psychological thriller Memory right now (it was the No. 2 movie in Thailand last week), his Singaporean romance The Leap Years opens in Thailand cinemas next Thursday, and his Laotian-Thai road-trip romance Sabaidee Luang Prabang (Good Morning Luang Prabang) premiered last night in Vientiane and opens in Thailand on June 5.
Then there's Queen of Langkasuka, The Coffin and Happy Birthday yet to come.
And Red Eagle, hopefully.
See also:
- Red Eagle beefs up, possibly into two parts
- Here comes Red Eagle
- Red Eagle soars again (The Nation)
- Insee Dang the Movie (official site)
