Introducing Piak Poster in Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan

Film studio GTH is primarily known for making youth-oriented movies. It was, after all, founded by the three studios that made the hit 2003 childhood romance Fan Chan.

Its latest offering, Top Secret Wairoon Pun Lan (Top Secret วัยรุ่นพันล้าน), continues the tradition. It's an autobiographical account of the brash young man – "Top" Aitthipat Kulapongvanich – who started his Tao Kae Noi (เถ้าแก่น้อย) seaweed-snack company when he was barely out of his teens. It became a brand known worldwide and made Top a billionaire by the time he was 27.

In many ways, GTH's films owe a debt to 1970s director Somboonsuk Niyomsiri (สมบูรณ์สุข นิยมศิริ). Better known as Piak Poster, a name that came from his former occupation as a poster artist, Somboonsuk made a string of gritty youth-oriented dramas and comedies, beginning with 1970's Tone (recently listed as a national heritage film) and included the Wai Onlawong series that saw a reboot in 2005, though with a different director.

Top Secret director Songyos Sugmakanan aims to repay that debt by casting Piak in his movie. So, at age 80, the veteran filmmaker Piak Poster makes his acting debut. He plays a partner of Top, showing the rebellious kid how to make it in the business of selling roasted chestnuts.

The Top Secret teen billionaire is portrayed by "Peach" Patchara Chirathivat, the young actor who made his scene-stealing debut in the rock 'n' roll movie SuckSeed earlier this year. Peach is a scion of the family that owns Thailand's Central department store chain, so though he's never had to struggle like Top did, he at least knows how it feels to be a billionaire.

Read more about it in a recent Nation article.

And check out the trailer, embedded below.