ONG BAK-2
ONG BAK -2
After enduring a seemingly insurmountable wave of bad publicity following star-director Tony Jaa’s disappearance from the set of Ong Bak 2 a little while back things are finally looking up for the troubled production. How so? Well, all signs are that the film will indeed be ready to meet its December release date, a date that has just been shifted one day to fall on the King’s birthday, which is considered a very auspicious day in Thailand. So that’s kind of nice. A little nicer? Well, take a look at the brand new poster to the left of this. That guy flying towards Tony with both knees pointed at Tony’s face? That’s Dan Chupong, star of Born To Fight and Dynamite Warrior and the number two star at Sahamongkol after Tony himself.
Now, if you’re thinking “Waitaminute, if Dan’s in this film why haven’t we heard about it before now?” then, well, there’s a very simple answer to that. Dan wasn’t supposed to be in the film, at least not until Jaa’s mentor Panna Rittikrai took over the directorial reins a couple months back. Suddenly a new character appears and that character is being played by Dan Chupong. Why create a new character for a film that was already eighty percent complete at the time? Can anybody say sequel? Yep, the rumors are flying that a sequel has already been greenlit, that the massive standing set created for Ong Bak 2 will be reused for that film - a very simple way for the producers to cover the cost over runs brought on by Tony’s running off into the jungle - and that Jaa and Chupong have both already signed on.
Now ... if you’d told me this would happen a couple months ago I probably wouldn’t have believed you. At the time I frankly believed that Jaa had damaged his career beyond repair but now I find this sequel talk entirely plausible. Why? Because when I wandered into the Sahamongkol office at AFM I put the question of Tony’s future directly to them and while they didn’t mention this specifically the response was to simply smile and say “Oh, I think he’ll be okay.” Clearly they knew something I didn’t.
Put a smile on your martial-arts loving face by checking out the bone crunching Ong Bak 2 promo reel in the Twitch Player below the break. It’s even subtitled for your viewing pleasure. Remember what was said by Sia Jieang in the Gala Premiere video posted on News.mcot.net, about Tony JAA's next movie "Ong bak 3"...
He says that Ong Bak 3 will be full of more daredevil fightings between Dan Chupong and Tony JAA. Moreover, in Ong Bak 3 Tien's legs and arms (Tien is Tony's character) will be torturely damaged.
Consequently, Tien has to fight with some sort of boneless action. This is homework for Panna Rittikrai and Tony JAA to create the action for us to see what it will look like to fight in the state of boneless condition.The Set of Khmer Palace which is already seen by the press is now fortified for its further usage. It will not be considered worthwhile if it is removed. Moreover, there is now a list of Ong Bak 3 casts including the name of Dan Chupong and Nui Kessarin who will be in the same set with Tony JAA.
Ong Bak 2 is only the beginning for Tony JAA who will soon be back on the set, filming scenes for Ong Bak 3.
Sahamongkol Films' president Somsak "Sia Jiang" Techaratanaprasert is talking up a storm about the next episode in the franchise. He's even sunk more than Bt200 million in Ong Bak 3.Ong Bak 2 is just the prologue, he explains.
The climax of the story comes in Ong Bak 3, with lots of excitement in the key action scenes, on which we'll be spending more than Bt100 million.The studio and the film's director and star, Panom Yeerum Tony JAA were able to resolve their conflict over budget overruns but the long delay in shooting led to Somsak deciding to split the film in two parts, with the rest of the story being told in Ong Bak 3. Filming of Ong Bak 3 will commence before the end of the year and will only take a short time, as there's plenty footage from Ong Bak 2 that can be used.
However, there are concerned that the decision to split the film in two parts may negatively affect foreign sales."We'll know the response at the Cannes film market in May", he says. "What happened in the past was caused by people around him. We have cleared the air and JAA is enthusiastic about returning to work", he says.
Somsak says he has faith in JAA and believes the superstar is back on track. And he is already thinking about Ong Bak 4, saying he hopes to persuade Jackie Chan to play a role in the project.
The key scene in "Ong Bak 3" will see elephants invading the palace "Ong Bak 3" will be in cinemas next year