Thailand’s “King of Action Movies”

“The film was exciting. It showed a motorcycle jump from a plane at 4,500 meters in the rain. Then Sombat Metanee parachuted and got stuck on a flagpole in Laos. The soldiers saw him and started shooting, but Sombat shot first. While he was shooting, the parachute ripped and he rode through the camp on the motorcycle. He came to Laos to get the gold that had been hijacked. Greg Morris came to Thailand to gather the people for this mission. It was a very exciting story,” said Chalong.

When asked about the production budget of “Thong,” Chalong laughs and says, “It was no more than 15 million baht at the time. Greg Morris’s fee was not expensive, about 5 million baht for a month of shooting. After completion, the film was shown in two cinemas. One was the Paris at White Bridge, a top-notch cinema that is now a market. The other was the Paramount in Pratunam. Back then, you had to book tickets in advance. I remember that on the first day, the line for tickets stretched to the White Bridge. At the Paramount, the line stretched almost to Pratunam.”

Chalermthai’s biggest competition was Japanese films, but despite the huge billboards advertising the latest film, it failed to attract audiences. No one, it seemed, could compete with “Thong” at the time.

Back then, open-air screenings were all the rage during major temple festivals. If a film was well received, the other screens would be empty. When “Thong” was shown, it would grab all the attention, leaving no audience for other films. “Everyone came to see ‘Thong.'”

“When I was filming ‘Thong 2’ in 1982, I was faced with a challenge: How could I make a motorcycle escape from the bad guys? I thought about it for a while and came up with the idea: ‘Let the motorcycle fly!'”

“It took me a long time to come up with ideas. How could I create something new and exciting that the audience would want to see? The cost didn’t matter as long as the audience had fun.

“Many people wanted to make films on ‘Thong’, but I told them, ‘That is not possible because ‘Thong’ has to be made by Chalong Pakdeevijit.'”

After his success in the cinema, he turned to television drama.

“My first drama with Channel 7 was ‘Rayaa’ in 1998. It was a great production, especially the scene where the Japanese captured Ao Manao. I filmed the Japanese invasion with the support of the navy. The commander at the time was very kind. He asked me what I needed and I asked for five landing ships. He granted it to me immediately. We had around 1,000 real marines who participated in the invasion of Ao Manao and fought on the long beach of Sattahip. At that time, no fees were required to film there.

“We fought for 12 days, but after the cut it was only 12 minutes.”

He recalls how he was given the nickname “Blow up mountains, burn down huts” by “Rayaa.” “I never blew up mountains or burned down huts. I just blew up helicopters and made planes crash into helicopters. The media gave me that nickname because it was catchy and marketable. That’s their business.”

During the filming of the first Angkor, he was often asked when the film would be finished. “I told them it wouldn’t be finished anytime soon. Back then, I worked fast, not slowly. It took about a year and it turned out just right. It saved Channel 7’s reputation at the time. As soon as Angkor (2000) was released, all the other channels were in the dust. No one could keep up. It was exactly what I had hoped for.”

Chalong also addressed a long-standing mystery among his fans: why do his dramas often feature scenes involving grilling chicken? “Well, if you can’t find chicken to grill, what are you going to do? Grilling a rabbit is not so good. Chicken is the best,” he laughed.

He explained that filmmaking is different from producing television dramas. “First, you have to block the camera angles. Second, you have to set the lighting. Third, good equipment is crucial. Fourth, you need patience and tireless efforts to acquire knowledge and develop yourself. I still order American Cinematographer magazine every month to keep up with what’s happening in Hollywood and to be aware of any advances in equipment.”

At 92, Chalong plans to continue making films and dramas. “I will continue until there is no audience left or I run out of ideas on how to surprise them. Sometimes the mind slows down and the body can’t keep up. Then I have to take a break.”

When asked if he could still do action scenes at his age, he answered with conviction: “Absolutely. Just give me the 200 million – and I’ll make ‘Angkor: The Movie’.”

Damrongrit Sathitdamrongtham

Ratthakorn Sirirek

The people