THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Press aren't giving Peter |any latitude

Press aren't giving Peter |any latitude

PREMIERES OF THAI movies aren't usually front-page news, but the Thai press had specific reasons to play up the release of the new military-backed romantic drama "Latitude 6", which hits cinemas today.

PREMIERES OF THAI movies aren’t usually front-page news, but the Thai press had specific reasons to play up the release of the new military-backed romantic drama “Latitude 6”, which hits cinemas today.
A sweet tale of cross-cultural romance set in the Deep South, it’s produced by UCI Media Film and backed at a cost of around Bt20 million by the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc). However, the main reason the press is standing to attention for “Latitude 6” isn’t because they have given orders by the Army. No, reporters are more interested in the movie’s star, scandal-plagued actor Peter Corp Dyrendal.
At Tuesday’s gala roll-out at Paragon Cineplex, the media troops with their bayonet microphones were out in force, outflanking Peter at every turn as he tried to dodge questions about problems with his marriage to Ployphan “Ploy” Taveerat. She recently went viral in the social media with a photo of her and her two children, sitting at home, waiting in vain for the absentee daddy Peter to return.
Further postings have revealed the 39-year-old actor is a public “offender”, with photos showing him with another woman in Buri Ram, and Peter’s been laying low in his trenches ever since.
But he had no choice but to confront the full-on assault by the media corps on Tuesday, and after the troops hurried up and waited for three hours, Peter submitted to a brief interview, lasting about three minutes.
“It has gotten out of hand and people misinterpreted the whole thing,” he said before asking reporters to not encroach further into his territory. It’s a “private matter” between him and his family, he said.
He’s also planning a retaliatory strike in the form of lawsuits against those defaming him in the social media.
A week ago, he vented his frustration on Instagram, lamenting “not everything is always what it seems”.
Ironically, the sentiment suits his situation with “Latitude 6”.
While the film is a bit of propaganda aimed promoting peace in the restive South, the situation on the ground for Peter is anything but harmonious.
Attacks have continued on his Instagram account, where commenters are encouraging people to boycott the film.
One of Peter’s Instagram photos showed him on the film set, with the caption saying he’d put three years of his life into the project, and that he wanted fans to come meet him at the premiere. That only encouraged more people to pile on with the “boycott” comments.
Other keyboard critics say they can’t put aside their disbelief to see Peter in the role of a “good man”. In short, reception of the film has so far been overwhelmingly hostile.
So is the Army worried? The film’s producer, Maj-General Nakrob Boonbuathong, deputy director-general of Isoc’s Fifth Operations Coordination Centre, has said he’s gotten wind of the all the negativity, but he tells Matichon that it shouldn’t be a big problem.
“I hope the public will separate real life from the movie, as it is irrelevant,” the producer-general says. “Another thing is that we didn’t produce a film to make a profit. We simply wanted to create a better understanding about the three southernmost provinces.”
Meanwhile, the film does have its supporters, and they aren’t just men in green uniforms. The police have also thrown their badges behind “Latitude 6”, with Police General Somyos Pumpanmuang personally booking two rounds of the film for cops to see for free. The police chief notes that any revenue from the film will be put toward helping victims of violence in the South, so it’s all for a good cause.

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