Nak Muay filming in Thailand with Michelle Yeoh as executive producer
Tinge Krishnan’s Muay Thai action film Nak Muay starts shooting Aug. 2 in Bangkok and Pranburi, with Michelle Yeoh executive producing.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Nak Muay filming in Thailand is set to begin on Aug. 2, with Michelle Yeoh attached as an executive producer on the Muay Thai action feature, Deadline reported.
Disruptive Element Films, the UK and Thailand-based company run by director Tinge Krishnan and Colin Pons, announced that principal photography will take place in Bangkok and in the rural district of Pranburi.
The film brings real Muay Thai names into the ring, with Buakaw, Saenchai and Sua Black, also known as Natthaphum Kaeowatthanameth, among the cast. Deadline reported that the production is being shot and produced entirely in Thailand, with backing from the Thai government and the UK Global Screen Fund.
When does Nak Muay start filming in Thailand?
Nak Muay is scheduled to start principal photography on Aug. 2. The shoot will use locations in Bangkok and Pranburi, according to Disruptive Element Films.
The movie is centered on Muay Thai, Thailand’s traditional martial art and national sport. Muay Thai is a combat sport known for strikes using fists, elbows, knees and shins, and it has become one of Thailand’s best-known sporting exports.
Buakaw plays Magic Lotus, described in the film as a celebrated fighter feared for a deadly touch in the ring. Saenchai plays Tongchai, his longtime ally, who presents himself as a foolish farmer while concealing his own fighting ability.
According to the film’s storyline reported by Deadline, Magic Lotus withdraws from boxing after another fighter dies in a bout with him. Tongchai helps him retreat into the natural world, and the pair reconnect with the sport when they begin training a young fighter named Yod.
Yod, played by Sua Black, is written as Thailand’s undefeated Muay Thai champion, a national celebrity and a brand-world fixture in Bangkok society. The character is also burdened by an earlier fight that left his childhood best friend Krit with permanent brain damage. As Krit nears death, Yod begins to unravel.
Krishnan is writing, directing and executive producing the film. She described the project to Deadline as a personal chance to make the kind of movie she had long wanted to direct as both a woman and a martial arts practitioner.
Krishnan said Nak Muay focuses on Yod’s crisis and his relationships with strong women while he weighs the meaning of his craft and his own moral judgment after a breakdown.
The film marks Krishnan’s third feature. Deadline noted that she first drew attention with the BAFTA-winning short Showscan, and has since directed for television on A Thousand Blows, The Mosquito Coast, Industry and WeCrashed. Her feature credits include Been So Long and Junkhearts.
Dominic Buchanan, whose credits include Gimme the Loot and The End of the F***ing World, is producing. Scott Hornbacher, credited on Boots, Mad Men and The Sopranos, is serving as consultant producer. Gavin Kelly, known for American Horror Story, is the cinematographer.
Yeoh, whose credits include Everything Everywhere All At Once and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, executive produces alongside Pons, Krishnan and David Ismalone.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.