Rule of thumb in any trade: Copy the boss

But “Freelance Ham Puay Ham La Ham Rak Mor” (“Heart Attack”) looks like it could be a winning follow-up.

Indie director Nawapol “Ter” Thamrongrattanarit demands that all his actors go through auditions first and Sunny was no exception. In fact that sign of integrity was part of what attracted him to the project. 

So Sunny studied the script, but he was baffled about his character, Yoon, who freelances in the graphic-design trade, retouching images. Yoon needs some retouching himself, though, because working hard has given him a skin rash, so he goes to hospital, only to fall in love with his beautiful doctor, played by Davika “Mai” Hoorne.

The chance to learn what exactly retouchers do was another draw for Sunny, but he struggled with the character in other ways, despite more than 20 workshops with the director. What was it Ter wanted in this Yoon fellow anyway?

Then one day they had a long chat and Sunny spent time watching Ter at work, and it dawned on him that Yoon was actually Ter! So he focused on capturing Ter’s personality and, in the process, turned into Yoon. If he tried letting any of his own traits seep through, Ter immediately told him he was heading in the wrong direction, but when he started “mimicking” Ter, the director loved it.

All that was left to do was copy Ter’s manner of dressing. The costume team hit a snag and Ter brought in his own clothes from home for Sunny to wear. A-ha, Sunny teased him, so Yoon really is you! The director saw what was happening – and maybe, just for a moment, thought he should have cast himself in the lead instead of Sunny.

 

Mai’s autograph in demand

Meanwhile Sunny’s co-star Mai Davika is supposedly reaching the end of her contract with Channel 7 later this year and, like many other actors, including Araya “Chompoo” A Hargate and Nattawut Sakitjai, is rumoured to be contemplating a jump to Channel 3. 

Mai says she doesn’t remember when the contract lapses but at the moment she has no new shows lined up at Channel 7. She’s lately been seen in the horror series “Nang Chada”, but that’s ended now.

With Mai revealing little, it’s back to the rumour mill. It’s said she was approached by talented actress-turned-producer Ann Thongprasom to appear in a remake of the drama series “Sai Roong”. Ann, who was a star of the earlier version, denies trying to woo Mai, but admits she’s interested in doing the remake and is waiting for Channel 3 to give it the green light. At this stage there would be no reason for her to contact Mai, she points out, and anyway that would be presumptuous because Mai still under contract to Channel 7. 

That being said, Ann stressed that she thinks young Mai is a heck of an actress.