The Thainess of Kati

The film adaptation of The Happiness of Kati (Khwamsuk Khong Kati) had its premiere for VIPs and the Thai media last night. Neither being a VIP nor Thai media, I wasn't clued in and found out too late to reserve a ticket, but I'm content to wait and see it after it opens tomorrow.

Ahead of the film's premiere, Daily Xpress had a story, in which Parinyaporn Pajee talked to Genwaii Thongdeenok, who makes his directorial debut with Kati. The story details a bit of the process of adapting the beloved youth novel for the big screen. Here's more:

Genwaii, a film graduate from Thammasat University's Journalism and Mass Communication faculty, reserved the rights to Kati a couple of years ago, when he and [author "Jane" Ngarmpun Vejjajiva] were consulting on subtitles for a French movie. At that time, he was on Sahamongkol's script-development staff.

[...]

"[Co-writing the screenplay with Ngarmpun has] been helpful as it's given more depth to the background of the characters and, at the same time, she's added details from the second episode of Kati to make the story more perfect," says Genwaii, saying that he feels viewers will enjoy the very Thainess of the film.

"Personally, I love the subtle Thai atmosphere. I've tried to present it visually in the same way as Cherd Songsri did in his pictures."

He's going to have a lot to live up to, invoking the name of Cherd Songsri.

From looking at the trailer for The Happiness of Kati, I wondered about the soccer scene. I can't remember it being in the book, and a co-worker doesn't remember it either. Well, it isn't in the book. It must be an episode added to the movie to reinforce the spunkiness of Kati.

Oh, and by the way, the child actress playing Kati was previously seen in Chocolate, playing Jeeja Yanin's character Zen at an early age.

Update: The premiere was very heavy on VIPs. Among them: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, author Ngarmpun's brother.

Update 2: The Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee had an interview with Ngarmpun (cache). (Via Thomat)