TAT rejects “Phuket too costly’ claim

PHUKET: Anuphap Teerarat, director of the Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), today rejected criticism from a German movie producer that Phuket has priced itself out of the market as far as film-makers are concerned. The producer, Wolfgang Rademann, was quoted in the Bangkok Post as saying that he had opted to shoot his made-for-TV movie, which has the working title ‘The Fabulous Sisters’, in Bali rather than Phuket. He claimed that since the American movie ‘The Beach’ was shot in Phuket and Phi Phi, the cost of making films in the area had soared. “Since Hollywood shot the Leonardo DiCaprio film [in Phuket], prices have skyrocketed so much that we’ve been forced to choose Bali instead,” he was quoted as saying. K. Anuphap told the Gazette, “If this were a high-quality production they wouldn’t worry about the budget. Equally, if they were sure the movie would sell well, they wouldn’t worry about the money. They would worry about the quality of the film and of the location.” While admitting that he knew nothing about Mr Rademann’s production, he added, “Maybe this production has a small budget.”