Project Goes In Front Of Cameras This December
Actor Vithaya Pansringarm and popstar Yaya Ying have joined the cast of Nicolas Winding Refn‘s “Only God Forgives” presumably playing local characters in the Danish helmer’s Thai-set crime-thriller which will now shoot in December.
The two will star along side the already-announced Luke Evans and Kristin Scott Thomas in the story of a Thai police lieutenant whose rivalry with a gangster sees the two settling their differences in a Thai boxing match. There’s no word yet who is playing who, but surely Evans will be leading the pic as said gangster (we hope/assume)?
While both Thai talents are (for the most part) unknown to Western audiences, Pansringarm has a small role in the upcoming “The Hangover Part II” as a minister and is one keep an eye on for what we assume will be a “blink or you’ll miss it” appearance in the summer tentpole comedy. Popstar Ying, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have much, if any, acting experience which only adds to the intrigue surrounding Refn and this project (he reportedly hired a real adult-movie star for a small role in his next film so ostensibly everything’s up for grabs).
The director has his Ryan Gosling-led thriller “Drive” competing at Cannes and hitting theaters on September 16th and a reteaming between with the young actor on a remake of “Logan’s Run” also in the works. The original plan was to shoot “Drive” and “Only God Forgives” back-to-back which doesn’t seem like it will be the case any more. Will he squeeze something in, in between? God, we hope so, but the prolific filmmaker must rest at some point.