Here comes Red Eagle

Enough of Thai politics for a minute. My story is in today's Nation about Red Eagle, stemming from last week's press conference by Five Star Production, Wisit Sasanatieng and Ananda Everingham, to announce to the Thai press that yes, they will be making a new version of Red Eagle. The announcement was first made in October at the American Film Market, but last week's press conference was the first time it had been announced to the Thai press.

Five Star isn't the first company to propose a remake of this 1950s and '60s Thai action series, which is based on a series of novels by Sek Dusit. Both Sahamongkol and RS Film have also proposed their own versions, but neither seemed to get off the ground.

My gut feeling is that the Five Star bid is serious, because they are earnest people who mean what they say, and when they decide to make a Wisit Sasanatieng movie, well, they do just that. It helps also, that author Sek Dusit has given his blessing to Five Star, Wisit and Ananda.

Seeing Wisit and Ananda mobbed by the Thai press was quite amusing, and being the only farang at the press conference, I didn't have much of a chance to speak to them, though I did get a few quotes from Wisit and Ananda. Ananda was especially self effacing, musing out loud whether he is right for the role. "I'm not the superhero type," he said. But that's probably a quality that Wisit will embrace as he makes this film - think Christopher Nolan's Batman, or Daniel Craig as James Bond.

I also managed to pass along my own Red Eagle business cards to executive producer Charoen Iampungporn and Sek Dusit's son, Manote, and both were bemused by the fact that there's a farang who knows about Red Eagle.

More information:

• Red Eagle building a nest
• Red Eagle to fly again with Wisit
• Red Eagle official website (updated!)