Bangkok may be the Optimus Prime location to shoot “Transformers 4.”
Ilt Jones, the location manager for the previous three “Transformers” pics, was in our fair city as part of a tour put on by the Thailand Film Office – and he is apparently considering Bangkok as a location for the upcoming Michael Bay film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The “Inbound Roadshow Familiarization Tour” saw location managers from Marvel, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Disney visit locales like Phang Nga Bay, Ayutthaya’s ruins, the old city of Chiang Mai, and Bangkok’s busy streets and canals. They also visited the State Tower in Silom where parts of “Hangover 2” were filmed.
“We’re visiting Thailand’s many amazing locations, but also showing the VIPs our crews, studios, labs, and equipment—everything a major international production needs,” said Ms. Worateera Suvarnsorn, a spokesperson for the Thailand Film Office. “Usually we do outbound trips to the festivals and film markets to promote Thailand; this time we decided to try bringing them here.”
The road show took place during a particularly strong period for the foreign production industry in Thailand. The Thailand Film Office has projected that THB2.2 trillion (about $71 million) in revenue will be generated by foreign productions filmed in Thailand in 2012, surpassing the industry record of 2 trillion baht from 2008.
Last Wednesday night the industry guests released komloi lanterns into the sky, a traditional Thai festival activity. “We’re trying to work a little Thai culture into everything we do,” said Scott Rosenberg, managing director of AMW International, the PR firm that organized the trip with the Thai government. “Yesterday we introduced the group to some of our actor elephants that have appeared in many movies—everybody seemed to enjoy that,” he added.
