 Footsteps on the Beach (a.k.a. Leonardo on the Beach) has been on-line since October 1998. Students and teachers at Sriwttayapaknam School searched the internet every day for news and information about the production The Beach. News articles in the Thai newspapers were translated and photographs scanned. After Leonardo DiCaprio arrived in Thailand in early January 1999, the school suddenly found that their web site was receiving more than 3000 visitors per day. Many of these people were Leonardo fans hungry for news. Due to the demand, the web site was updated four or five times a day, seven days a week for a continuous four months. The pages were up-dated not with a date, but with the precise day of week and time. If the webmasters dared to take a day off without uploading something new, the fans would retort: "I think the webmaster is mad at us or is sick (hopefully not!) or something. Anybody else wondering when this site will be updated? It keeps saying Thursday, and this is Saturday. I'm going through WITHDRAWAL!!! I'd even settle for a "no news today" post!" Leonardo fans were not the only visitors to the site. Foreign correspondents and local journalists visited often to find some background information for their story. What they found was a virtual goldmine of information. These journalists learned more from the web site than the film publicist who was being deliberately tight-lipped. The school often received desparate telephone calls from journalists 600 kms south in Phuket wanting to know what the production team was planning to do the next day. The school even prepared press packs, complete with shooting schedules, location details and cast lists which they faxed to the journalists. At first, the production office wasn't sure how to deal with this Thai school. On more than one occasion they sent letters asking for the shooting schedule to be removed from the Press Room. The school pointed out that all of the information came from the Thai newspapers and was readily available to anyone who wanted to know. However, it soon became apparent that some people were reading the schedule on the internet and then flying to Thailand just to try and meet Leonardo. Worried about security risks, the school decided to move the schedule to a locked folder where only people with a password could access it. The school later learned that members of the production team in Thailand and even Fox executives in America were checking on the web site daily looking for valuable public reaction. The students were also surprised to receive a letter from Leonardo's media company who thanked them for their support. Leonardo's mother organised parcels of official claendars and videos to be sent to the Thai school. She commented that "Leo was pleased with the Thai students hard work". During the school summer holidays, in March, three Thai students and their teacher made the long journey down to Phuket for ten days to visit the filming locations. Despite being so far away from school the updates to the web site didn't stop. Leonardo fans worldwide were given the treat of on-the-spot commentary. The school party returned with some 200 photographs of the film-makers and movie locations for their web site. Once the last film-makers left in early May 1999 the story didn't really end. Everyone expected the web site to close down. But it didn't. In fact it continued to grow in strength with several hundred new pages over the following months. Despite the release date of the movie being so far ahead, the daily visitors averaged between 2000 and 5000. "We here at Birken [Leonardo's media company] had no access to Leonardo when he was in Thailand, so as a result the Thai students' site was our only source of accurate information during the filming of "The Beach". I feel the Thai students helped the world focus on the issues at hand and not on tabloid journalism which causes so many false illusions and impressions." Chuck Smith, Director of Production, Birken Interactive Studio. "During the four months when I was Media Consultant to Leonardo DiCaprio, from January to April 1999, I logged onto the Thai Students' Beach Website every day to hear from fans here in Thailand and around the world, and see what various publications were reporting about the exciting work Leonardo was doing. The information, website layout, and fans' comments available on The Beach Website make it a fascinating and easy place to find all the latest news and views." Richard S. Ehrlich, Media Consultant to Leonardo DiCaprio for The Beach |
 CONTACT: If you have any questions that you would like answered then please don't hesitate to contact us: Telephone (+662) 702 6046 which is a direct line for the computer room or (+662) 702 7808 ext 405 - just ask for Richard or fax us at (+662) 389 1103. E-mail: webmaster@thaistudents.com We are allowed to give you contact information for people here in Thailand and the production offices in London, but only if you are a reporter. LATEST NEWS: The movie will be released in the US and UK on 11th February 2000. PRESS PACK: Thick papered book filled with 6 doublesided pages of color photos from the movie, 5 8"x10" B&W photos and a 25 page booklet with production notes, bios of the actors and all production people involved in the movie. ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT: This is an audio visual press kit used by television stations and network shows. It includes interviews of some of the cast and crew. However, it contains the answers only. The way it works is that the local movie reviewer will use the questions supplied by Fox and then the stars will give them the answers. To most people it will appear that the stars are in the same room being interviewed. But in reality, these same answers will appear in t.v. shows around the world. TEST SCREENING REVIEWS: A review from the test screening during August 1999. MOVIE REVIEWS: All the reviews from the media. TRAILER REVIEWS: Review of the trailers. SCRIPT REVIEWS: A look at the first draft of the script which is available on the internet. ENVIRONMENT: There has been a lot of reports in the press about the damage caused by Fox on Phi Phi Le island. Some of these were untrue or exaggerated. We take a close look at what really happened.
PRESS RELEASES: The reports in the papers are not always accurate or even complete. To give the production crew and environmentalists a chance to tell their side of the story we are delighted to be able to bring to you all of the press releases.
CAST AND CREW: We have now received a complete cast list for the movie from the public relations people. The main cast are: Richard (Leonardo Dicaprio), Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen), Etienne (Guillaume Canet) and Sal (Tilda Swinton). Visit the Cast and Crew page for a complete list. NEWSPAPER ARTICLES: We started collecting newspaper clippings back in October '98. Most of the articles come from the Bangkok Post and The Nation. This is a valuable source of information for you to do a background piece on the environmental controversy.
THAI TABLOID PRESS: These are the translations done by students and teachers at Sriwittayapaknam School from the Thai press: Daily News, Thai Rath and Khao Sod. LOCATIONS: Find out the latest news for where they will be shooting in Thailand. At the moment they are on location in Krabi city & Phuket island (southern Thailand). These pages also gives you some background information and pictures of the areas they will be visiting.
BACKGROUND STORIES: These are articles that we have written at our school that gives you some background information about some of Leonardo's activities in Thailand.
PICTURES: Four hundred pictures have been taken of the cast and locations and have appeared in publications around the world. If you want to know more about this computer project at Sriwittayapaknam School, then please check out the following link: Leo and Learning - A Computer Age Tale in Thailand (Silk Road May/99) - The eyes of the whole world seemed to focus upon Phuket earlier this year, when international heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio landed here to film "The Beach," his first new movie since soaring to mega-stardom with "Titanic".
 |