Before you’ve been to Thailand more than once, you’ll notice many famous films shot in painfully familiar places. These films have won some of the most prestigious Oscar and Grammy awards, some of them were sold out at their premiere and festival screenings, and their characters have been featured in comic books, memes and computer games. Quite often the films made in Thailand, the plot has nothing to do with this country and can tell about the semi-legendary events of the past centuries. We offer you lists of films shot in Thailand , which you should definitely watch. Perhaps this will be the first impetus for you to make a trip to this wonderful country in Southeast Asia. And then you’ll be able to recognize on your own which films were made in Thailand.
You’ll be able to see for yourself.
1
Bondiana: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
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Part of the stories about the adventures of Agent 007 were filmed in the provinces of Phang Nga and Krabi. More precisely – on the island Ko Tapu in Phang Nga Bay, which was later named James Bond Island, and it is also a national nature park. In the forty years that have passed since the shooting, hundreds of thousands of adventurers from all over the world have come to see the picturesque rock. Well, the script of the movie and its mise-en-scenes are performed in the best traditions of spy thrillers. Fatal beauties with Asian eyes and the heads of the mafia clans do their dark business against a background of exotic beauties, because of the abundance of which the filmmakers forgot that James Bond should kill his enemies every thirty seconds – in this series, retribution comes to them much less frequently.
2
Rambo (1985)
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Cult movie made in Thailand. Sylvester Stallone, the lead actor, is a frequent guest in this country. There is a place where his legendary brutality can show itself. The scenery for the second part of the series was Bangkok and Chiang Mai, but the entire fourth takes place on the border of Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). It is there that the pristine mountain forests are preserved, every step along the paths of which can cost a life.
3
death-battle-1 and 2 (1995 and 1997)
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Few people haven’t heard of this fantasy-style TV series based on the plot of the computer game Mortal Combat. The setting for it were the ruins of the ancient city of Ayutthaya and the historic Sukhothai Park. For the Thai actor Tony Jaa the second season of the movie became a kind of springboard in his career. During filming, he was an understudy for Robin Shu.
4
The Beach (2000)
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Actually Phi Phi Phi Islands where the film “The Beach” was filmed in Thailand, are strictly protected areas – there is a nature reserve. That’s why after finishing the shooting there was a scandal, because the director ordered to cut down a couple of authentic trees and plant coconut trees that never grew there. At the same time broke the coral reef, because otherwise the barges could not approach the shore. The natives were shocked, and the tourists, who have not seen the original, were quite pleased with the island views and crowds rushed there, where a very young Leo DiCaprio in the company of the same backpackers was looking for an adventure on his heel, finding a cannabis plantation and a reservation of Europeans with a matriarchal social structure.
5
Bangkok Hilton (1989)
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Film shot in Thailand that could be considered a warning parable for those who want to break the laws of the kingdom. The main character – Catherine Stanton (played by Nicole Kidman) – by the will of fate becomes a drug courier and tries to smuggle a large shipment of heroin to Australia. The plot of this gripping series culminates in a fictional Thai prison, Lum Tiau, which the inmates have nicknamed the “Bangkok Hilton”. The setting is the interior of the dungeons of the real-life Bangkok prison Klong Prem.
6
Alexander (2004)
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Film shot in Thailand, but telling the story of Alexander the Great’s campaign and the events that took place in India. The place of filming was the northern provinces, as well as the delta of the Mekong Valley, sacred to Thais. All the actors were local, and the military were used as extras. They were made up in such a way that our compatriots could not distinguish them from real-life Hindus. The reason for using Thailand as a movie set was the physical unpreparedness of Indian elephants.
7
Gangster (2007)
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Film shot in Thailand based on real events that took place during the war between South and North Vietnam in the 1960s. The story is based on the tale of Frank Lucas, a smuggler and drug trafficker who used the chaos of war to move drugs across the ocean – from Southeast Asia to the North American continent. Most of the scenes were shot in Chiang Mai. What’s interesting is that real-life members of Lucas’s gang were used to film in the extras.
8
Bachelor Party 2: From Vegas to Bangkok (2011)
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No one before, and it looks like no one after, will film comedies on the roof of Lebua State Tower, a skyscraper in Bangkok’s Silom district that overlooks the Chao Phraya River. Fortunately for the director, the owner was a fan of The Hangover Games, the first series of the wild comedy about adventures in alcoholic binge drinking. That’s why he gladly provided both the hotel and the rooftop restaurant as decorations. Let’s face it – the venture proved profitable, and the hotel now offers rooms and tours based on the film, as well as themed cocktails, which are just wildly popular.
9
The Impossible (2012)
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Film about the tsunami in Thailand in 2004. It tells the story of the events that occurred after the 2004 earthquake, the epicenter of which was in the Indian Ocean. The Bennett family – the main characters of the film – comes to Thailand for Christmas vacations. Their tranquil vacation is interrupted by the tsunami that swept away everything in its path. The scale of the tragedy and the inhuman efforts made by the parents (Mary and Henry) to save their sons, Simon, Lucas and Tom, are shown very realistically.
10
No Exit (2014)
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American action movie, starring Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan. An American takes a job and moves his family to Southeast Asia. During this time, there is a military coup and he has to flee, fighting against everyone, because he is an expat, an outsider. The film is loosely based on the events of May 2014, when there was a military coup in Thailand. The director deliberately aggravated and exacerbated the course of events. Filming took place in Chiang Mai and Lampang. The footage was censored by the authorities in the northern provinces of Thailand.
11
Thai voyage-stepanych (2005)
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Not all movies set in Thailand are action or thrillers. The Russian comedy with Lyubov Polishchuk and Ilya Oleynikov is a happy exception to the creepy filmography about murders, military coups and mafia clans. The film is hilarious and wild, and its script bears the mark of the dashing permissiveness characteristic of everything filmed in Russia in the 1990s. Oleynikov’s son Denis Klyaver starred in this film, as did Stas Kostyushkin. They got the role of policemen, portrayed, according to the tradition of those years, not too smart and prone to bribery. A lot of music and songs. Filming took place all over Thailand, and Chanida Somrak, a local actress, was invited to play Stepanych’s mistress.
12
Love-in-the-big-city-2 (2010)
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The romantic comedy in which all the pop and media crowd of Russia of the first decade of the two-thousandths was celebrated. Alexei Chadov, Vera Brezhneva (who appeared pregnant), Ville Haapsalo, Leonid Yarmolnik, Filipp Kirkorov, Anastasia Zadorozhnaya. The film can be attributed to the genre of situation comedy, although the plot is very simple and based on the traditions of the wild parties, common in those days. Overnight, wealthy businessmen, their irrational children and a spell that comes from nowhere.
13
Star Wars. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
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Small islands near Phuket were used to shoot episodes and general shots of the planet Kashyyyk. In fact, this footage is a cinematic monument, because a year after the filming (conducted in 2003), all the rocks were destroyed by a catastrophic tsunami.
14
Saving Dawn (2007)
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Another film made in Thailand based on true events. It tells the story of the fate of Dieter Dengler – a pilot in the U.S. Navy shot down over North Vietnam. Captivity, torture, escape and a two-week wander through the jungles of Laos. The actors had to shed weight to make their appearance fit the moment they were experiencing. The film is almost documentary accurate.
15
Dangerous Bangkok (2008)
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Classic thriller. Assassin Joe (played by Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage) goes to Bangkok, where he has four orders to fulfill. This time he will depart from his rule – to kill everyone who helped him. How it all ends is best seen for yourself.
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Read More:- The world-famous James Bond Island in Thailand.
- 15 the most popular attractions in Pattaya.
- How to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai by plane, train, bus and car.
- The 2004 Thailand tsunami – should we be afraid of it now?.
- Transsexuals in Thailand – why are they so popular?.
- Military beach (Sai Kaew Beach) in Pattaya – what to do and how to get there.