ON-ON HOTEL: Phuket City and province, in southern Thailand, was the second location for the film-makers whilst in Thailand. They used this large island as their base for the production office, studios, hotels and many of the locations. This page is for the scenes shot in Phuket city.
The above photograph shows Thai students Nattawud and Suthiphong standing outside the On On Hotel in Phuket city.
These photographs were taken about four days before the movie cameras arrived. It shows the production team preparing the exterior and interior of the hotel. The sign to the right says in Thai that Phang Nga Road, Phuket will be closed to traffic on 30th March, 2nd April and 3rd April, between the On On Hotel and Mae Porn restaurant. It also shows the time. There were no signs written in English.
Four days later the interior of the backpackers hotel had been renovated and road-side stalls had been set up outside. The picture to the right shows a road sign being changed to Khao San Road.
Khao San Road is in Bangkok nearly 900 kms north of Phuket. Not only is the scenery different (no palm trees) but the taxis too. All of the vehicles were brought down to help recreate Khao San Road. During the shoot the taxis and backpackers (also imported) went up and down the street as Leonardo arrived at his hotel. A smoke gun was also used to help create the infamous Bangkok pollution.
A sign (left) advertises tours. The other sign (right) is the schedule for the movies being shown on the big screen in the hotel. When Leonardo's character arrives "The Simpsons" is being played.
The above photographs show the Thai students posing with Andrew Macdonald, producer (left) and Darius Khondji, director of photography (right). The following is the location report we filed whilst on location. It was posted on the Beach Watch page:
30th March 1999: Well, here we are at our third location for The Beach movie. Just around the corner from where I am typing this Leonardo and other cast members are rehearsing their scene. It is a night shoot and as our hotel is just around the corner we will be going back to observe more later. At present rain has stopped play.
The scene they are filming at the moment is for Khao San Road in Bangkok. If you remember correctly, this is at the start of the movie. The street outside this backpacker's hotel has been transformed into Khao San Road. Complete with roadside stalls, roadsigns, and Bangkok taxis and tuk tuks. At the moment it looks like the camera is inside the hotel and the scene involves Leonardo's character arriving. They have tables and chairs set up inside for people to eat. Hundreds of people are standing on the sidewalks on both sides trying to catch a glance. I heard someone cry out "there is Leonardo", but it was only his double. I have taken his picture so you can see later for yourself if you think he looks like him or not.
As I said before rain has now stopped shooting before we had a chance to see much. However, we spotted Sarah (the film publicist) walking down the street with Andrew Macdonald the producer. So we were happy to say a very quick hello to him. We couldn't say much as it was raining hard, but he was happy to pose for a picture.
This internet shop closes in ten minutes so I can't send another report tonight. I will send another report tomorrow. We are going to play crazy golf now and will return to the movie set at about 11 p.m. They are scheduled to finish in the early hours of the morning.
31st March 1999: The third location we visited was a busy street somewhere in Phuket which is doubling for Khao San Road. As before we cannot tell you exactly where we are as they haven't finished here yet. They are due to return on Friday and Saturday. It isn't really a secret around here as there have been signs up for the past 4 or 5 days. However, as they have only been in Thai it is only the locals who know about the details.
We first arrived on the location at about 7 p.m. I would estimate there was already 500 interested on-lookers hoping for a glimpse of Leonardo. The camera was mounted inside the hotel on a tripod and Leonardo's Stand-in ( though apparently not Dave as previously thought) was standing at the entrance to the hotel. Outside, the street had been dressed to look like Khao San Road; complete with street vendors, Bangkok taxis and road signs. After a few camera rehearsals it started raining and the scene was postponed. The place which we were standing was outside a cafe which was being used for the relaxation area for the backpackers recruited as extras. Many of them we recognised from previous locations. In real terms they haven't travelled a great distance but as far as the movie is concerned, those same people have walked past Leonardo or drank beer behind him in Bangkok, Koh Samui and Koh Pha-Ngan! However, when you finally come to watch the movie it is doubtful you will recognise any of them.
After a short time the rain slowed down and an Isuzu Trooper arrived and pulled up outside the entrance. The first one out was Leonardo's mother followed by his grandmother and then Leonardo himself to great cheers from the crowd, though it was only a brief glimpse. With so many street-side stalls set up it was difficult to see much of what was going on. It started to rain again and we decided to go away for a break. We knew it was going to be an all-night shoot.
We returned at about 11 p.m. to find that Leonardo, dressed in a red shirt and carrying a small backpack, had progressed from the entrance to a counter further inside. From our vantage point we could see that this shot involved him walking to the far end of the room - probably to check in. Someone told us later that they had spotted Robert Carlyle in this room (Daffy) though we didn't see him ourselves.
This shot seemed to go on forever doing take after take. Backpacker extras were either sitting in the dining area, checking out or just walking past Leonardo. On a big video projection screen The Simpsons cartoon was playing. There were also about a dozen or so backpackers and Thai people walking up and down on the sidewalk outside. Their faces wouldn't be seen so it didn't matter that it was the same people who kept walking by the entrance!
Once the shot was finally completed Leonardo's bodyguard (the fierce looking one) came out and the Isuzu Trooper pulled up. Then Leonardo and his entourage came out and quickly sped away. This became the norm for the remainder of the evening. Whilst the film crew set up the next shot, Leonardo would relax in a secret location. His double would then be used for camera rehearsals and then when everything was ready Leonardo was radioed to return to the set.
By 3.30 a.m. the number of on-lookers had dwindled to less than 100. The next scene, involved the arrival of Leonardo walking down the street and entering the hotel. The camera was set up on a track on the opposite side of the street where we were. During the preparation we were lucky enough to be able to have a quick chat with Darius the director of photography. He told us that he had only recently started playing on the internet and was finding it fascinating. He sounded interested in our internet project and was keen to see the page that we have dedicated to him.
Once everything was set up, Leonardo was called and the next series of takes took place. This scene was a little more complicated as it involved all of the vehicles brought down from Bangkok in order to create a traffic jam at 4 o'clock in the morning. A smoke machine added to the authenticity of the very polluted city. Backpackers also had to walk up and down the street on both sides. Once the background action was moving, Danny called out "Action". Leonardo then made his way down the street carrying his backpack and trying to dodge some people playing with water guns. He paused outside the hotel before heading in, "Cut!". This was repeated a number of times before the director was finally satisfied. We then had the repeat of Leonardo's quick departure. The camera was then taken inside ready for a new scene upstairs.
You are probably wondering why we were still up. As this was our last chance to be on location my students wanted to stay up all night and just soak up the atmosphere. So we continued like this until the early hours with Leonardo coming and going until at 6.30 a.m. he left for the last time looking very tired. We too were tired - only time for a quick shower and breakfast before joining a tour for the day! We headed to Phang Nga Bay today to see some limestone rock formations including the infamous James Bond Island. We will be writing a fuller report about this later when we will be comparing the impact of tourism on this small island and what Maya Bay is presently receiving.
[ On Location: Phuket | Thai Students in Phuket City | Hat Surin | Hat Kata | Other ] [ On Location: Thailand | Picture Index | The Beach Homepage ] The pictures taken on location on this page were photographed by students and teachers at Sriwittayapaknam School, Samut Prakarn, Thailand. The copyright belongs to the school. The pictures cannot be used without permission. The trip to Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and Krabi was financed by the school owners.
