Thursday, July 24, 2008

Action-packed Shanghai in Bangkok

The Weinstein Company's big production Shanghai is shooting in Bangkok. The film stars John Cusack, Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe and Rinko Kikuchi. Vietnamese model-actress Vu Thu Phuong is touted as the major Southeast Asian talent in the cast.

Set during World War II, Cusack plays an American spy investigating the death of a friend in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. He uncovers a conspiracy and he becomes entangled in a triangle romance involving a local woman (Gong Li) and a mobster (Chow Yun Fat).

The production is making use of old-timey backdrops in Chachoengsao outside of Bangkok, as well as the colonial-style Hualumphong Railway Terminal in Bangkok.

The film is directed by Mikael Hafstrom.

An action-packed film, stunts are being coordinated by Vic Armstrong, an industry veteran who has doubled James Bond and Indiana Jones. Armstrong has some thoughts about Bangkok and the Thai film industry on his blog. He's pictured with Prachya Pinkaew, Panna Rittikrai and Kawee Sirikhanaerut. The Weinstein Company's Bey Logan can't pass up another chance to make a film in Bangkok, so Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, and Logan writes about him too.

Some blurry photos by hangers-on around the shooting locations have turned up over at Pantip.com.

Shanghai had been slated to actually shoot in Shanghai, but The Weinstein Company had its permits taken away by the Chinese government, which was said to have been wary of the film, due to the controversial time period it is set in. Shanghai then packed up and moved. It's also used London as a location. The film is set for release on Christmas Day in the US.

(Via Kaiju Shakedown)

2 comments:

  1. Hey Curtis! your blog is great for keeping in touch with the T-cinema! that is one strange mash up of an all-star cast. wow, cusack in bangkok...wow. any idea of a release date?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Jan. Thanks for checking in. The US release is on December 25.

    I've made a quick correction in this post. The "old-timey" street scenes were filmed in Chachoengsao, just outside metro Bangkok.

    ReplyDelete

Please, no questions or comments about where to download movies or subtitle files.

Please read the FAQ about Thai films on DVD before asking about where to find a Thai movie on DVD with English subtitles.

Make your comments pertinent to the post you are commenting on. For off-topic comments, general observations or news tips, consider sending an e-mail to me at wisekwai [ a t ] g m a i l [d o t ] c o m.

All comments are moderated. Spam comments will be deleted.