THAILAND: PROTESTS AT THE OPENING OF THE FILM "THE BEACH"

Record ID: 388934

  • Title: THAILAND: PROTESTS AT THE OPENING OF THE FILM "THE BEACH"
  • Date: 16th March 2000
  • Summary: (KAPALUA, HAWAII, US) (JANUARY 15, 2000) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) LEONARDO DICAPRIO SAYING OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTORS WEARING MASKS OF HIS FACE, You try your best not to, you know, let it affect you. I mean, unfortunately with that whole environmental thing that happened, which is the reason they were wearing the masks, that was sort of used as the target for what
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Reuters ID: LVACF1VWTY3CV4Y0RYH5WUSZTTCL
  • Story Text: Protests have marred the opening of Twentieth Century Fox's film "The Beach" in Thailand, where its shooting last year caused a controversy.One protestor - sporting a Leonardo Di Caprio face-mask - even staged a mock ritualised suicide.
    Di Caprio says the efforts of the film's producers to preserve the environment has not been fairly reported.
    Environmental protestors campaigning against Leonardo Di Caprio's new movie 'The Beach' have staged an elaborate demonstration outside a cinema in the Thai capital Bangkok, claiming the shooting of the movie in Thailand inflicted permanent damage to the environment on Phi Phi Island, and are asking Thai movie fans to boycott the film.
    Environmentalists accuse the film production crew of uprooting indigenous plants and trees to widen the beach at Maya Bay and plant a grove of nearly 100 non-indigenous mature coconut trees.
    They also accuse the filmmakers of allowing sand dunes to erode after they were manipulated for filming.
    Twentieth Century Fox claims it has rehabilitated the beach on Phi Phi as it promised following a series of strong protests during shooting in the southern province of Krabi.
    One protester, wearing a mask with the face of Leonardo DiCaprio, the lead actor in the film, committed a mock Japanese 'hara-kiri' suicide in front of the cinema complex where the movie is being screened.
    "We try to tell the people to boycott 'the Beach' which has ruined the Thai national park at Maya Bay," said Manit Srivanitchphum, performance activist as he ridiculed DiCaprio with his theatrical suicide.
    Protesters also distributed leaflets with the message, "I, Leonardo DiCaprio, hereby bow down before the world in abject humiliation, to apologize for my inactive defence of the grievous ecological crime committed in the making of my last film, The Beach."
    "Well, it's the last part from the court case, it's the one power that the consumers have that they can say they're not gonna watch the film because crime must not be paid," said protester Ing Ramjanavanit as he urged Thai viewers to boycott the film.
    Protestors wearing mask of Di Caprio are not new - and was a campaign trick environmentalists used throughout the movies production.
    Speaking in January Di Caprio said, "Unfortunately with that whole environmental thing that happened, which is the reason they were wearing the masks, that was sort of used as the target for what was supposedly going on with the beach, which was completely untrue.
    "I mean, a lot of what the truth is in the media doesn't really get written about a lot of the time I found.I mean, the truth is, we came in there and cleaned up three tons of, you know, inorganic garbage that was lying around the beach.
    It was like a campsite, you know? It really, you know, made it better, but, unfortunately that doesn't always get written about."
    A Thai civil court is in the process of hearing a petition filed by environmental groups saying Phi Phi Island's environment has been damaged by the filming of The Beach.
    Based on a novel by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle, 'The Beach' tells the story of Richard, a young American traveler played by DiCaprio, who seeks out the perfect Island paradise in Thailand.
    Despite the protest, hundreds of DiCaprio's fans packed a major cinema and queued up to pay double the price of regular shows, to see the superstar on screen.
    "There are both sides among Thais, against and pro The Beach, we should wait to see the public opinion, but I think The Beach is a good film that present Thailand and there is nothing wrong about it" said Nontaya Maleeyanonta, who said she was a a big DiCaprio fan.
    Proceeds from the premiere opening will go to societies for the disabled in the country.
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