Shipping more ghosts to China

They met about two years ago, and Chow recently emailed Banjong with an invitation to write and direct a Chinese version of his “Ha Phrang” (“Phobia 2”) segment “Khon Kong”. Chow and “Pee Mak” studio GTH will co-produce the project, which shifts Chow’s filmmaking career from Hong Kong to the mainland – possibly dragging Banjong along with it. 

Chow is the guy who directed and starred in such laugh riots as “Shaolin Soccer” and “King of Comedy”. His latest movie, “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons”, took the Chinese box office by storm in February and is due for release here next Thursday. 

“Khon Kong” is Banjong’s horror parody that also features the four actors who star in “Pee Mak”, along with Marsha Wattanapanich. The action takes place on a film set amid hectic final shooting for the fictitious movie “Alone 2” (Banjong’s co-directed a real one called “Alone”). One of the cast members falls sick and is rushed to hospital, but soon returns to finish the shoot. Then a call comes from the hospital reporting that she had in fact died in intensive care! So who – or what – is that on the set?

Meanwhile in Beijing, still no word from the People’s Commissariat of Patriotic Uplifting Motion Pictures (the censor’s office) as to whether “Pee Mak” might someday be shown in China. 

Dismissing an erroneous report that the film had already been banned, the studio’s head honcho Visute poolvoraralaks said a Chinese distributor was lined up. But he admitted that Beijing doesn’t like its citizens watching movies that have ghosts or gays in them, and “Pee Mak” has both. His latest prediction: its chances of screening there are 50-50.