PIFF 2010: Ananda Everingham in South Korea

Among the official guests at the 15th Pusan International Film Festival is actor Ananda Everingham. Thailand's leading leading man is there to support the international premiere of The Red Eagle, directed by Wisit Sasanatieng, who's also on the guest list.

But he's also starring in another film at Pusan, Hi-So by Aditya Assarat.

He was interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter's Jonathan Landreth, and talked about The Red Eagle, Hi-So, Eternity (and the other indie Eternity).

In Hi-So, he explains that he plays himself (his character is called Ananda) "but the dilemmas of the character are the dilemmas of the director" as the movie deals with the complications of love in an increasingly cosmopolitan Bangkok. As Ananda say: "We’re not Western and we’re not totally Asian either."

Hilariously, he skipped out on last week's Red Eagle gala premiere in Bangkok. He explains:

For me, if you know anything about the history of the film, well, you can understand that the role [originally played by Mitr Chaibancha] felt like it was big shoes to fill. I haven’t even seen the finished film. I couldn’t see the world premiere [in Bangkok, October 4]. There was too much pressure to march into the theater, in front of all the people you care about, and sit down and watch. It was a mixture of nervousness and pride. After the film opens in Thailand cinemas, I plan to go buy a ticket and see it on my own.

Somehow he'll have to find the time to get to the cinema before jetting off to Tibet to make a road move called Shambala, which he mentioned in his interview last week with Stefan of A Nutshell Review.

And there's also Palung, his directorial debut, which is in development at Aditya's Pop Pictures.