A couple of sneak peak clps from the film ….
Day Four: The Goethe Institute
Day Three: Fourteen Emotional Hours
Although the third day was spent in the relatively familiar surroundings of my sister’s house, only one kilometer or so from my own, it was a day of emotional turmoil as some of the maestro’s “wildest” scenes were played out.
They included situations with his two teenaged helpers, with his stalker who has tracked him down from Vienna, and with visions of his long-dead mother who perished in mysterious circumstances. An emotional day too for 16-year-old Income, who plays a street kid busking amid desolate Bangkok byways during the Covid crisis, often exploited, who finally finds someone who actually wants him to play the violin … for 13-year old Japan who plays Dr. Arun’s disciple Luke, who may be the real “evil genius” of the film.
DAY TWO - A DAY OF DESOLATION
“Income” as “Toy”
Day Two was all about establishing the character of Toy, which director Paul does in one long sequence with no dialogue in the tradition of “pure cinema”.
Toy is a brilliant teenage violinist who plays the violin on the street to support his destitute mother. But being on the street is the start of a journey into darkness.
Later on Toy will be “rescued” by the mad composer Dr. Arun, but that journey turns out to be even more traumatic.
It’s also been a day of what in L.A. we call “guerllia filmmaking” - snatching a shot here, a shot there … in public areas. Covid has emptied out the streets at night, meaning the atmosphere of desolation is easy to achieve as our small crew and two actors in the sequence prowl through the night.
Day One of "The Maestro" BEGAN with "You're Fired"
Literally! Director Paul Spurrier chose for his first scene to film this one. I play a brilliant but unbalanced composer/conductor who teeters on the verge of psychosis. Betsy Palmerston plays a Viennese Intendant who has decided the bottom line beats out the “diversity” mandate of her company and sends the Maestro Arun Saeng-Somnuek back to his benighted country.
Our director filmed an astonishing nine scenes and 7 1/8 pages on the first day, working methodically through a very tight schedule. It was a joy to watch the story start to come together.
The venue for this shot was the Old England Students’ Association, a building that provides a very European-looking setting. The signed photographs of Leonie Rysanek and Kirsten Flagstad, the bust of Wagner and the original Ottmar Hörl Wagner sculpture were all, um, plundered from my house. The poster of Trisdee conducting at the Rossini Festival was borrowed from the Siam Sinfonietta’s office.
Peter C. Green took most of the pictures you’ll be seeing in the upcoming daily blog.
The team moved on to Soi 39. My sister’s house — which she generously let us borrow to film in, These scenes take place in the home of Luke, a child prodigy pianist, his Thai father (played by Vithaya Pansringam) and his Japanese mother (Miho Tsuda).
An Idea for our Poster
Searched on Fiverr for a poster artist steeped in the tradition of this kind of film…
Location Scouting - Decaying Mansion....
Today we found this delectable decaying mansion outside Bangkok!