Focus wigs out
By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb and courtesy of Five Star Production
Note for credit only: Cover photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb
Did you know
3AM will be screened in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
There is a Thai superstition that ghosts like to appear at 3 am. That idea provided the inspiration for the new 3-D horror movie, Tee Sam (3AM), which is comprised of three short films called Bride, Wig and Overtime.
Award-winning actress Focus Chirakul, best known from the blockbuster movie Fan Chan (My Girl), stars in Wig. The 19-year-old actress plays May, the youngest daughter in a family that runs a wig shop. The family doesn’t know where the hair for their wigs comes from until one day when a very mysterious and spooky event occurs.
Student Weekly recently met up with Focus at the Five Star office. The former child actress has grown up beautifully, and she was happy to tell us about her first horror film
Student Weekly: Do you believe in ghosts?
Focus: I don’t, but I once had a spooky experience. When I was 7 years old, I was sleeping at my aunt’s place. We were sleeping on a single bed together and my aunt was on my right. But during the night, I felt somebody on my left hand side as well, which was impossible because the bed was tiny.
Student Weekly: What did you learn about wigs from making this film?
Focus: Nothing really. There’s scene where I had to show how to sew hair into a wig cap, but I don’t actually know how to do it properly.
Student Weekly: What was the atmosphere like in the wig shop where you filmed?
Focus: It was really creepy. There were lots of mannequin heads in the shop, which made it look spooky. And it was even more eerie because the hair styles of the wigs didn’t seem to go with the mannequins at all.
Student Weekly: What was it like working with actress Saiparn Apinya?
Focus: It was fun. We got along very well. On the set, we could express our emotions and interact with each other well, even though we’d never worked together before.
Student Weekly: Was there a particularly difficult scene for you in the film?
Focus: According to the script, I had to be so terrified that I lost my mind. I had no idea how to have a panic attack about ghosts since I don’t believe in them. The director told me to think about a murderer or some other scary thing instead.
Student Weekly: Is there a particular scene that you like the most?
Focus: I don’t want to spoil the story, but there’s a great emotional scene I have with Saiparn. When I watched the scene on the monitor, I believed that we were really sisters. I hope viewers like it.
Student Weekly: Why did you decide to major in film at Srinakharinwirot University?
Focus: I want to learn about every aspect of filmmaking. I’ve learned a lot of technical terms connected with cinematography. During this semester, I’m learning about editing and script writing. It’s really fun.
Student Weekly: What kind of movie would you like to work on in the future?
Focus: I want to play a psycho. My friend recently gave me a book about a crazy person who has hallucinations that her boss is a psycho. It was inspiring and I’m working on a script based on the story.
Student Weekly: Why should everybody see 3AM?
Focus: Ordinary ghost movies are creepy enough, but this one is a 3-D horror movie, so it’s even scarier!
Vocabulary
- superstition (n): the belief that particular events happen in a way that cannot be explained by reason or science
sew (v): to make, repair or attach something using a needle and thread
creepy (adj): strange in a way that makes you feel nervous
mannequin (n): a model of a human body, used for displaying clothes in shops
eerie (adj): strange, mysterious and frightening
go with something (phrasal v): to combine well with something
panic attack (n): a sudden feeling of severe anxiety in which your heart beats fast, you have trouble breathing and you feel as if something bad is going to happen
aspect (n): a particular part of feature of a situation
psycho (n): a person who is mentally ill and who behaves in a very strange and violent way
hallucination (n): the fact of seeming to see or hear something that is not really there, especially because of illness or drugs
