Not so fast Jaa, says a furious Sia Jiang

Prachya Pinkaew, Somsak Techaratanaprasert and Panna Ritthikrai.

It appears promotional efforts for the October 23 Thai release of Tom-Yung-Goong 2 have hit a snag, with the beef between star Tony Jaa and Sahamongkol studio chief Somsak “Sia Jiang” Techaratanaprasert intensifying.

With more to say about Jaa's rumored signing on to Fast and Furious 7, Sia Jiang rounded up Tom-Yum-Goong 2 director Prachya Pinkaew and stunt maestro Panna Rittikrai and held another press conference on Tuesday.

Changing his tune, now Sia Jiang is saying that Jaa's contract with the studio does in fact cover international productions and that if others want to use Jaa, they need to clear it with Sahamongkol first.

The Nation's Soopsip column has the quotes:

Actually, the studio boss said, the contract with Jaa does cover overseas movie projects. “If he wants to be in Fast and Furious 7, they have to contact Sahamongkol Film for approval first,” Sia Jiang growled. Now there were two furious things in the picture.

It turned out that the day after the previous press gab, Sia Jiang heard from Jaa – albeit not in person. Jaa sent him formal notice that he doesn’t belong to Sahamongkol anymore and reserves the right to work on any movie project he chooses. Jaa also demanded that Sahamongkol seek his permission to use him (or presumably his likeness, at least) to promote Tom-Yum-Goong 2 when it comes out on October 23.

“He said his move to Hollywood had nothing to do with me,” Sia Jiang said. “But I called you guys here to make it clear why I’ve changed my stance.”

The Bangkok Post quotes Sia Jiang saying Jaa will face a lawsuit if he goes ahead in Fast and Furious 7.

Soopsip adds that while the feud between the star and studio boss continues, production has stalled on the nearly completed A Man Will Rise, Jaa's directorial effort in which he co-stars with Dolph Lundgren.