We all read the stories and heard the rumors. (for those who did not, Tony Jaa is reported to have fled the set of ong bak 2 for the darkest heart of the jungle, where he lived in solitude practicing black magic before finally returning to civilization and a tearful apology on day time Thai TV).
I will not pretend here that I did not WANT the rumors to be true. The very idea is simultaneously hilarious and awe inspiring. What if one of the greatest athletes and martial artists alive on earth today was in fact capable of super natural feats? What if he left it all behind, ran away from the sequel to the break out film that made him an international star so that he could practice magic in the middle of the jungle?
I cannot imagine anything cooler, and its a great story to tell about Tony Jaa when I talk about him.
However, I cannot necessarily accept this on faith, no matter how much I'd like to(something I always belittle Christians for doing when they buy into bronze age dogma). There has certainly been no Alan Moore style scientific documentation of this incident, or of Jaa's supposed abilities and powers.
If this were an American Film, I'd dismiss this out of hand as clever viral marketing, or a very meta way to hype a film. What makes me wonder if there is more truth to the stories though is that:
1) this is Thailand, where it seems less likely they'd have access to the advertising know how to virally market a film
2) SOMETHING strange clearly went down on the Ong Bak 2 production. From what I've been able to gather , production DID shut down. Jaa DID make a tearful apology after months of disappearance.
The specifics of what lead to the shut down, and Jaa's increasingly unhinged behavior are far from known.
I post this thread simply to ask if anyone out there has any CONFIRMED information , or anything that has been backed up by a reliable source. Is this a genuine example of an 'X File' of some sort, or a surprisingly sophisticated marketing technique for a country with a rather primitive film industry? Or something else entirely?
Edit: I use the word "sorcerer" only because I do not have a better term to describe what it is Jaa has been accused of being. As far as I know, someone who is a practitioner of magic is a sorcerer. Now, I know that not all magic is of the 'King Arthur' variety and that whatever forces Jaa possibly became involved with are probably something I cannot begin to understand. I do not know what sort of magic is practiced in Thailand, or where they believe the magic forces with which they deal are derived from (be it animal spirits, a general magical 'force' found in the natural world, or what have you), or what they call those who involve themselves in the practice of magic. So, I've used the word sorcerer, but if there is a more accurate descriptor out there , I'd prefer to use that because as it stands it sounds like I am saying Jaa would be at home with Merlin or something.
I will not pretend here that I did not WANT the rumors to be true. The very idea is simultaneously hilarious and awe inspiring. What if one of the greatest athletes and martial artists alive on earth today was in fact capable of super natural feats? What if he left it all behind, ran away from the sequel to the break out film that made him an international star so that he could practice magic in the middle of the jungle?
I cannot imagine anything cooler, and its a great story to tell about Tony Jaa when I talk about him.
However, I cannot necessarily accept this on faith, no matter how much I'd like to(something I always belittle Christians for doing when they buy into bronze age dogma). There has certainly been no Alan Moore style scientific documentation of this incident, or of Jaa's supposed abilities and powers.
If this were an American Film, I'd dismiss this out of hand as clever viral marketing, or a very meta way to hype a film. What makes me wonder if there is more truth to the stories though is that:
1) this is Thailand, where it seems less likely they'd have access to the advertising know how to virally market a film
2) SOMETHING strange clearly went down on the Ong Bak 2 production. From what I've been able to gather , production DID shut down. Jaa DID make a tearful apology after months of disappearance.
The specifics of what lead to the shut down, and Jaa's increasingly unhinged behavior are far from known.
I post this thread simply to ask if anyone out there has any CONFIRMED information , or anything that has been backed up by a reliable source. Is this a genuine example of an 'X File' of some sort, or a surprisingly sophisticated marketing technique for a country with a rather primitive film industry? Or something else entirely?
Edit: I use the word "sorcerer" only because I do not have a better term to describe what it is Jaa has been accused of being. As far as I know, someone who is a practitioner of magic is a sorcerer. Now, I know that not all magic is of the 'King Arthur' variety and that whatever forces Jaa possibly became involved with are probably something I cannot begin to understand. I do not know what sort of magic is practiced in Thailand, or where they believe the magic forces with which they deal are derived from (be it animal spirits, a general magical 'force' found in the natural world, or what have you), or what they call those who involve themselves in the practice of magic. So, I've used the word sorcerer, but if there is a more accurate descriptor out there , I'd prefer to use that because as it stands it sounds like I am saying Jaa would be at home with Merlin or something.
