"When DiCaprio was filming in Thailand, such was the site's authority that the world's media looked to it to provide information on filming dates and locations." - Empire Online The film-makers for The Beach scouted locations in Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines before finally settling on Thailand. Phi Phi Le island, in southern Thailand, was the main reason. Maya Bay was perfect with its cliffs enclosing it on three sides. Nearby Phuket island was chosen as the main base as it has an international airport and a film studio. Principal Photography took place in four main locations between January 15th and April 24th 1999.
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Information about all of the locations were published in the Thai tabloids in January 1998. We translated these articles and put the information out on the internet. Due to the unpredicatble weather they weren't always able to keep to the schedule but we were able to fill in details from reports in the newspapers and on the television. Foreign correspondents found our web site to be very useful as the movie's public relations department did not release any schedules o
r information about the cast or script. We had it all and were up-dating daily. However, 20th Century Fox contacted us a number of times stating their concern about having the schedule on the internet. We replied that we had not got the schedule by any devious means as it was freely available in the national papers on almost a daily basis. But we decided to compromise in the end for security reasons. Although the schedule was not 100% accurate people were apparently flying all the way to Thailand on the off-chance that it was correct. What we did in the end was put the schedule in a locked folder which could only be accessed with a user name and password. We only gave this information out to bona fida correspondents.
MOVIE LOCATIONS IN THAILAND:
1. Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee), some 30 kilometres off Kabri province, is one of the world's most beautiful tourist destinations. Now a National Park, it comprises of two rocky tree-covered islets -- Phi Phi Don with long, white powdery beaches and Phi Phi Le, uninhabited but blessed with a crystal-clear sea, secluded beaches, cliffs and colourful coral reefs. On the western part of Phi Phi Leh is Maya Bay, a white, sandy beach dominated by a high cliff -- the main location they used for the film. Two other islands: Bamboo Island and Mosquito Island, were used for the scene when the three main leads swam to the beach.
2. Phuket - Phuket (pronounced poo-get) is Thailand's largest island and one of the most popular holiday destinations in south-east Asia, attracting up to one million visitors each year. The film studios in Talang were used for interiors as well as the beach bungalows. Many other locations around the island were also used.
3. Krabi - Krabi city and province doubled for Khao San Road and the marijuana field. In Krabi city they built a large reclining Buddha which can still be seen.
4. Khao Yai National Park - Khao Yai National Park covers an area of over 2000 square kilometers and the wildlife includes many endangered mammals such as elephants, gibbons, tigers, leopards and Malaysian sun bears. The park was used for the waterfall scene when the three main stars first arrived at the beach.
BOOK LOCATIONS: The book starts at the old backpacker hangout on Khao San Road in Bangkok before heading down south to Ko Samui and then the mysterious "Beach", not too far away.
SCHEDULE NOTES:
Dates/Locations/Scenes
15th-29th January Maya Bay, Phi Phi Le Island, Southern Thailand - The beach
1st February Studio in Talang, Phuket - underwater scene and love scene between Leonardo and Virginie.
2nd February Surin Beach, Phuket - exterior of beach hut
3rd February Studio in Talang, Phuket
4th February Koh Kaew Beach, Phuket and in the evening move to Khao Yai National Park
5th-9th February Heo Suwat waterfall, Khao Yai national park, north-east Thailand - The waterfall scene when they first arrive at the beach after walking through the marijuana field.
10th February Krabi
February Prachacheun Road and Maharat Road, Krabi, Southern Thailand - Khao San Road
February Krabi - marijuana field
27th Feb - March Studio in Ban Ma Yik, Talang District, Phuket, Southern Thailand - Interior scenes for the underground cave, train trip from Bangkok and the beach hut on Ko Samui.
3rd March Lampromthep, Phuket
18th March Hat Nai Thon-nui, Phuket
19th-22nd March Hat Surin, Phuket
23rd-25th March Hat Kata, Phuket
26th-29th March On-on Hotel, Phuket night shoot
30th March Phuket airport, Phuket
30th March Ao Po Pier, Phuket
31st March - 10th April studio at Ban Ma Yik, PhuketAn artist's impression of how the beach will look in the movie and a model of the guest house. [ Return to the Beach ]
