Tak's movie deal falls apart

Actress Bongkoj "Tak" Kongmalai's plans to become a producer and director have been derailed after her chief backer, Kamol "Sia Tong" Eowisikul, withdrew his offer.

The business partnership between the 23-year-old starlet and the 55-year-old businessman had Thailand's spiteful gossip press working overtime, linking the two romantically. Both denied being a couple, but the negative coverage is likely a factor in Sia Tong pulling out of the deal.

Conflicting stories have Tong married, while others said the playboy owner of Thai Penthouse magazine and a Bangkok hire-purchase business is single and was annoyed about being linked to Tak because he could no longer play the field.

Further vitriol is unloaded on the shapely young starlet, who the Thai tabloid press has unkindly nicknamed "volcano boobs", and Tak's mother, who has been criticized in the press for being an overly controlling stage mom.

Bangkok of the Mind has more on the collapse of the movie deal:

At first, she wanted to star. Then she wanted to direct, and leave the acting to someone else.

Originally, she wanted to make an erotic movie. That morphed into an action drama, which she thought would go down better with investors.

"I don't want people to think that I was using [Tong's] money, and that without it, I am incapable of making the movie myself. If I made the movie and it was a success, I don't want people saying that I used someone else's money, so it wasn't really my achievement at all."

Tak is now looking for a new "sponsor" to finance the production (a more conventional type?), though she admits she will probably have to scale down the project. So far, Tak has raised [8 million baht], mainly from friends - and all from outside the industry.

That last line is telling. No one inside the industry seems willing to help, and Tak has ruled out asking the head of her regular stable, Sahamongkol Films, or Five Star, another big production house, to back the movie.

Tak and her mother are among the would-be investors. Sahamongkol boss Sia Jiang (Somsak Techaratanaprasert), who acts as a mentor to young Tak, warned her that if she ventures out to make a movie on her own, she could end up losing everything.

Recently, according to today's Daily Xpress, Tak was modelling underwear for lingerie maker Triumph, with a bra as the centerpiece of a "sensuous" Passage to India-themed costume.

Related posts:

• Tak's tactics

(Via Bangkok of the Mind)