The first official trailer for A Prayer Before Dawn, an upcoming release about a troubled young Brit in a Thai prison, made its debut last night.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and has received several seriously positive reviews (check out this fairly rapturous one at Variety.com), but we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to feel a bit of cringe at yet another movie about Thailand featuring exotic shots of Muay Thai, bikini-clad bar girls, and Thai prison. Points for no elephant in the trailer though.
Based on the 2014 best seller of the same name, A Prayer Before Dawn is based on the true story of Billy Moore, a young British boxer who landed himself in Chiang Mai Central Prison and later at the “Bangkok Hilton,” aka Klong Prem Central Prison.
The movie stars English actor Joe Cole, known for the TV Show Skins, as Billy Moore. Thai ex-con and internet personality “Keng Camouflage” plays one of his fellow prisoners.
According to the book’s synopsis, Moore traveled to Thailand to escape heroin addiction and alcoholism in England, became a Muay Thai fighter in a bid to stay sober, but ultimately saw his life unravel as he became hooked on yaba.
At Klong Prem, Moore fought to survive, made strategic friends, and joined the prison’s Muay Thai boxing team — all while battling his addictions in an environment where drugs remained in ready supply.
The movie was produced by U.S.-based A24 studio, which has been behind a raft of recent critically acclaimed indie flicks including Ex-Machina, Room, and The Lobster.
The film’s Thai release date has not yet been confirmed, but Coconuts has contacted the studio and will update the story when we hear back.
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