THREE NIGHTS IN BANGKOK: Chance encounters in Siam.

I’m in the Thai capital for the Bangkok Film Festival. It’s virtually impossible not to have fun in this city, but it has to be said that this event, as a whole, remains a work in progress. However, both the festival and the market were rewarding as far as Dragon Dynasty is concerned.

The festival’s opening film was the Vietnamese action film, The Rebel, and it was rapturously received. It’s a stunning blend of martial arts and period drama, and we’re very proud to have it as an upcoming Dragon Dynasty release. I first found out about the film when I met actor Dustin Nguyen at last year’s American Film Market. Dustin came to fame in the cast of 21 Jump Street, and went on to appear in dozens of American TV series and movies. Though I’ve seen a lot of his work over the years, I found his performance as the tormented antagonist of The Rebel a real revelation. The poor guy had been felled by some kind of stomach ailment right after he arrived in Thailand, but rallied to meet for a long lunch. Dustin’s real story is easily as dramatic as anything he’s put on screen, and I urged him to commit his story to paper. Meanwhile, he’s prepping his directorial debut.

Another great thing about the festival and market, for me, was my unexpected encounter with my ‘old’ friend Gary Daniels. (I’m old, and he’s my friend!) I first met Gary on the set of Jackie Chan actioner City Hunter, and have been best mates ever since. He had just played a role in the Mainland Chinese produced Bruce Lee TV series, and had taken time out to visit Bangkok for the festival. No-one trains like Gary. His hotel had a Thai boxing gym attached! Gary has had an extraordinary career, going from supporting roles opposite other action idols to his own career as a straight-to-video leading man throughout the 90s. Today, he has a unique palette of experience as an actor and film-maker, and seems to be moving into a whole new stage of his career, as both performer and producer. No-one deserves it more. If there’s a nicer guy in the business, I’ve yet to meet him.

The Bangkok Film Market, situated on the top floor of the massive Siam Paragon mall, seemed to have more product than buyers. In the wake of Tony Jaa’s success, every Thai company has at least one actioner in production or development. I was also impressed and depressed, in equal measure, with the wild and wonderful westerners working in the industry. Bangkok has attracted many colourful characters from around the world, finding work as on camera talents and producing their own films.

The most impressive of these is director Ray Huber, who is currently editing his first feature. The film stars Cambridge-born Daniel O’Neill, who may be the closest the world has to a white Tony Jaa. I’ve known Daniel for years, but can take no credit for his success. He worked for me on Gen-Y Cops, The Twins Effect and The Medallion, and I still never realized the full range of his physical skills. Dan’s action scenes were the talk of the market, much to the chagrin of another displaced Briton. Jonathon Foo had a great supporting role in the Dragon Dynasty release The Protector, and was subsequently signed by director Prachya Pinkaew. Since then, he’s been cooling his heels in Bangkok (there are worse places), and was seen walking the halls at the Film Market looking for a lead of his own.

The Daniel O’Neill project was action directed by another old friend of mine, Ron Smoorenberg. Ron was the super kicking guy Jackie Chan fought at the end of Who Am I? You may remember the fun we had with Ron in my documentary Jackie Chan: My Stunts. It says a lot for what a great guy Ron is that he not only forgave me fro that, but agreed to play a role for me in Gen-Y Cops, and to double for our western lead Paul Rudd. He later relocated to Thailand, and dies (twice!) at the end of The Protector. Ron sustained a serious leg injury shooting a Thai TV commercial, but, undeterred, moved behind the camera to do a bang up job as a choreographer.

Also on the scene was a genuine straight blast from the past, John Ladalski. John is a true veteran of Asian actioners, one of the first westerners to get cast in supporting roles in Hong Kong films. His career dates back to the Alexander Fu Sheng Shaw Brothers comedy My Rebellious Son, the Bruce Li ‘classic’ Chinese Stuntman, Jackie Chan’s Armour Of God and even the 1978 Game Of Death (at ringside during Sammo Hung’s fight with Bob Wall). After many years in Hong Kong, he relocated to Malaysia, after a lengthy detour to Korea. He turns up in the finale of Protector as one of the legion of henchmen demolished by Tony Jaa.

Fans can expect many more high impact actioners from Thailand, and it seems that this industry has assimilated foreign talent even more readily than Hong Kong has.