SKIN TRADE (Ekachai Uekrongtham, 2014)

[bomaz]

That's the good point of shooting in TH with an american budget : you can afford talented people there, and shoot in good conditions. I hope they'll find a good balance between Dolph's vision and Ekachai's talent.

[DRC2013]

This is indeed sounding more awesome every day! This is probably the movie I'm looking forward to the most from Dolph, this and EX3.

If the movie turns out great, it might give Dolph's career a boost because of Tony Jaa. He had a crazy buzz going on a few years ago, people were talking about him as the next Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, but the excitement slowly died off I think because it took him sometimes several years to come up with a new movie, and he wasn't able to start making movies outside of Thailand.

Now that he seems to be free from his "shackles" and he's seriously starting to build a career in American movies, his star might rise again, especially if he has a sizeable role in Fast7.

A Man Will Rise looks like fun too, but I think Skin Trade will be the better one.

If everything goes well, I hope a limited theatrical release will happen in the US, that's what will happen with Van Damme's latest two movies, mainly because of the Volvo commercial I think.

Tony Jaa's rising popularity + Dolph coming off from Expendables 3 will hopefully result in a succesfull movie. Hopefully by the time this gets released everyone has forgotten SAF3 and those horrible paycheck DTV's.

[bomaz]

Do you know if the nowadays political situation (that may last some time) in Thailand may slow the movie process ?

[Jox]

Good question, hopefully not but we'll see...

[dude hallenbeck]

A very bad rumour has it that the remaining footage meant for Fast 7 was entirely action orientated. Which could really mean Tony Jaa might have to drop this.

[Moltisanti]

Hopefully that won't be the case. Doesn't seem like Universal has a firm idea of what they are going to do at all with FAST 7. They may not resume filming until after SKIN TRADE wraps (How long will SKIN TRADE film? Six weeks at the most?)

I doubt Jaa is the only person from the cast who has another gig lined up for the start of next year.

[dude hallenbeck]

Good point, they might even resume production in the latter half of the year.

The following had work lined up right after FF7;

Jason Statham - Susan Cooper and Viva La Madness, plus Expendables 3 PR.
Tony Jaa - Skin Trade
Vin Diesel - The Last Witch Hunter and Guardians of the Galaxy PR. Possibly The Machine.
Dwayne Johnson - Hercules PR, possibly San Andreas.

Ludacris, Rhonda Rousey, Tyrese, Michelle Rodriguez and Djimon Honsou didn't have anything lined up directly after. Lucas Black and Kurt Russell where cameos.

[Jox]

(How long will SKIN TRADE film? Six weeks at the most?)

Actually the shoot is planned for more than 2 months / 10 weeks! (January 15 to end of March minus possible pick ups in the States) But Jaa isn't needed for the whole shoot obviously as a good part should be filmed in Vancouver without him. What is also unsure right now is the turn that will take the political events happening in Thailand. That said the director just posted a location scouting pic so...

[DRC2013]

10 weeks is a luxury these days, that's about the same what EX1 and EX2 had, most medium budget studio movies don't even have those kinds of shooting schedules anymore.

Jox, do you know if the longer shooting schedule is due to it being cheaper to film in Thailand, or did Dolph take a lower fee so there would be more money for the below-the-line budget?

In any case I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that everything goes as planned and they can film it on shcedule.

[Jox]

I think it's both because it's cheaper to shoot there ($5 million would be a big budget by their standards), I'm not sure how Dolph is paid since he's really producing (and probably invests money more than he earns it right now) and also it seems it actually as a bigger budget (with CONAN's Paradox Entertainment being involved) than the usual DTV so all in all it could get very good production value and quality since they take time to do it properly (which they need to because there's quite a few action pieces that need time to film). I also hope everything goes according to plan as it could be one Dolph's biggest projects in a while (bigger than CP in scale and as strong as THE MECHANIK story-wise).

[Moltisanti]

(How long will SKIN TRADE film? Six weeks at the most?)

Actually the shoot is planned for more than 2 months / 10 weeks! (January 15 to end of March minus possible pick ups in the States) But Jaa isn't needed for the whole shoot obviously as a good part should be filmed in Vancouver without him. What is also unsure right now is the turn that will take the political events happening in Thailand. That said the director just posted a location scouting pic so...

Wow! 10 weeks is great. Can't remember the last time one of Lundgren's non-EX movies filmed that long.

Sounds like things were peaceful in Thailand today. Hopefully that trend continues.

[MacGyver]

Jox: do you expect the rest of the cast to be mostly unknowns? I would love to see at least 1 more guy that could be placed on the poster.

[Jox]

Wait and see...

[Jox]

Seems Ron Perlman is in...

[bomaz]

Holy mofo.

EDIT: Ron Perlman as in Drive ? taking place in Krung Thep as Only God Forgives ? My brain is making wicked connections This movie smells godamn good.