Hong Kong directors have long been drawn to Thailand, which is hardly surprising because it's cheaper to shoot there, the production facilities are good and there's much more space than at home.
But the Land of Smiles is more than just a beautiful location. It also has a thriving and creative movie industry all of its own, and Hong Kong talent is increasingly becoming involved in making Thai films. The most recent example is Hong Kong director Daniel Lee Yan-kong who, fresh from working on action romance Star Runner - which opens in Hong Kong this weekend - has signed up to direct action movie Red Eagle for Thai film studio Sahamongkol.
Based on a series of popular Thai movies that first appeared in the 1960s, the film is about a Thai superhero - the Red Eagle - who fights crime on the mean streets of Bangkok. 'It's going to be a huge film for Thailand. It's like the Thai version of Batman and Superman all rolled into one,' says Sahamongkol executive vice-president Gilbert Lim. The film is being produced by Thailand's Duangkamol Limcharoen and her partner in production company Cinemasia, director-producer Nonzee Nimibutr.
Although not the most obvious choice for an action movie, Limcharoen - or Aom as she prefers to be called - is regarded as one of Thailand's leading producers, and last week became the first Thai to win the Producer of the Year award at the CineAsia cinema conference in Bangkok. She's played a pivotal role in the growing trend towards pan-Asian co-productions and has credits including black comedy Last Life In The Universe, which involves talent from Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan, and Nimibutr's erotic drama Jan Dara, which she co-produced with Hong Kong's Peter Ho-sun Chan.
Aom says she was inspired to turn her hand to the action genre after seeing Thai kickboxing movie Ong-Bak - Muay Thai Warrior, which was a huge hit at the Thai box office earlier this year. 'After Last Life, I thought I wanted to do something like Ong-Bak, but I've never produced an action movie before,' Aom says. 'Then Somsak [Techaratanaprasert, chairman of Sahamongkol] approached me and Nonzee with this project and insisted we were the right people to take it on.'
The next step was finding somebody to direct the film, because Thailand doesn't have many action directors and Aom's regular directing partners - Nimibutr and Last Life's Pen-ek Ratanaruang - have their own distinct style, which is a million miles from the mainstream action genre. This is when Aom turned to Lee, who she'd first met when she helped him shoot A Fighter's Blues, starring Andy Lau Tak-wah, in Thailand. 'Daniel really liked Thai people and working with a Thai crew,' she says. 'He was really keen to do this film.'
Lee, whose credits include Black Mask, produced by Tsui Hark and starring Jet Li, plans to start pre-production on the film as soon as he finishes promotional work on Star Runner. Shooting is scheduled to start in February and the cast is likely to feature a well-known Hong Kong actress.