Rhatha Phongam, better known by her nicknameYayaying, has a remarkably relaxed affect for a woman who is (arguably) Thailand’s highest profile actress. When she spoke with Coconuts in late July, the Thai thespian seemed almost nonplussed by Vogue photographers who bustled around her, these being the latest symptom of the international attention she has received for her breakout performance in the Ryan Gosling-fronted thriller Only God Forgives.
Yayaying’s stoic response to her newfound fame might owe to the fact that she enjoyed a good deal of time in the spotlight while growing up. The daughter of a famed Thai comedian, she embarked on a career in pop music while still a teenager, touring both her native country and locales as far afield as the United States. Yayaying’s acting career caught a break in 2012, when she starred in the Thai film Jan Dara – a gig that served as a springboard to her first Western production.
Coconuts caught up with Yayaying to ask her about her rapid career shift, her plans for the future and what it’s like to work within the comforting, shimmering presence of The Gos.
Coconuts Bangkok: So could you just tell a little bit about how you wound up working on Only God Forgives? I’d imagine there was quite a bit of competition for that role.
Yayaying : I don’t know about competition that much, because they called me to go to the auditions. So I went to the auditions and then I got called back two months after that. And at first it wasn’t Ryan Gosling. It was Luke Evans from the UK. He’s a British actor. But he dropped out for The Hobbit. So that was in 2011. And then [Only God Forgives director Nicolas Winding Refn] won Cannes in 2012, I think. Or 2011. I can’t remember.
CB: For Drive, you mean?
Y: Yes. For Drive. I think they got success from Drive and Ryan Gosling and [Refn] were on the same ship together from Drive, so it just happened. I don’t know how many people went to the audition or casting. I don’t really know at all. It’s just like destiny sometimes, because actually I was a singer for my whole life. Like, more than 15 years. And as an actress I’ve only worked for two years. It’s been pretty fast for me for this job and this career. It’s more like a destiny, or something. I can’t really explain it.
CB: I was going to ask you about that. You started off your career as a singer. What made you decide to transition into acting?
Y: I think time, change. I’m a person who loves to challenge herself. Actually, my mom, she’s an actress, she’s a comedian. And I always didn’t want to be like my mom, because she would be on the set all the time, every day. She doesn’t have time for me. And I was like, “There’s no way that I’m going to be an actress just like her.” But then one day…I don’t why. It’s not my goal.
CB: Don’t you have to be touring all the time as a singer?
Y: Yeah, touring all the time. Around Thailand, around some other places in Asia. Sometimes in America. For Thai people, for Thai or Laotian people.
CB: We were talking about the difference between working on Thai versus working on Western films and I was curious if you could tell me about the difference working on Only God Forgives, versus working on Jan Dara.
Y: First of all, the directors. Completely different, the ways that they worked with me. Nicolas, he’s a European. He was not so open. He was not a person who would talk to you, or speak so much. If it would take me, like, 30 takes, he wasn’t going to tell me, “Look, this is what you’re going to do.” It was either, “More than this,” or, “Less than this,” until he got what he wanted. And that was the way that he developed every character during the scene. But in Thailand, they are like, “Okay, I want this. Do this for me.” Being Kheun Boonlueang [Yaya’s character in Jan Dara] you have to be, like, a grown-up woman, like 40 years old. Which is 10 years older than me. And the directors, they already have a picture in their brain, or whatever. But in Western films it’s like, “Improve yourself, develop yourself.” It’s a good way to work, for both, but a totally different style.
CB: And I was curious too, because I’ve seen the film and it’s very –
Y: Abstract.
CB: Right, abstract. That’s a really good way to put it. Were there ever any conversations with Nicolas where he was like, “This is what I’m trying to do. This is why we have this extreme lighting scheme.”
Y: You know, the script and the conversation between the characters changed almost every day, almost every hour. Sometimes the script was already here, but when we’re rolling the camera it completely changes for me. So it’s pretty hard for me, because I have to work with Americans and other foreigners, so sometimes I can’t really say what I’m understanding and what I’m not. But, the good thing is, I think silences speak louder than words, because as you can see in the movie, I’m silent much of the time.
CB: The film uses silence a lot, yes.
Y: Yes. So, I think that Nick tried to make the audience think, rather than just watching. You might see a lot of movies where you only get what they – it’s an action movie or a romantic movie or a comedy movie, and you don’t have to think. Everything’s on screen and you can see everything and understand everything. But, this movie, even when you finish it, and you walk out from the theater, you’re still curious about it. You can’t really know where it’s going to stop. It’s about your life, or it’s about, I don’t know, about your past, your present, your future. So if there are 10 people who watched the movie together, I think they’d each come away with different impressions.
CB: Absolutely. It’s a movie you have to interact with. And I was going to ask you too – some critics have reacted really negatively to the film, in part because of what you were just talking about, that you have to put a lot of effort into understanding it. How do you feel about those reactions? Do you feel that people have missed the point? Is that something you even care about?
Y: As I told you, for Nicolas, I think he has many fans throughout the world. And I think that sometimes they love a movie and sometimes they hate a movie. And you can see that some reviews are pretty bad, but he won the Sydney Film Festival. It’s kind of like the critics like different sorts of styles. I can’t really explain why or how I feel about it because I can’t really tell everyone, “This movie is going to tell you about this, this, this, this.” Because, as I told you, there’s a different feeling from the beginning to the end. So, myself, I really love actions movies, I really love sci-fi movies. There’s some movies I really loved it, there’s some movies I really hate. It’s like, it’s life. You can’t make everyone love everything about you. You have to accept it. You have to understand and respect the others. I think that’s the point.
CB: And what was it like working with Nicolas and Ryan Gosling? Because it seems like they have a partnership that predates the film.
Y: It’s like, first of all, working with Nick it’s great. He’s such a nerd. He’s such a fantastic, talented director, and very much a weird director.
CB: Like “weird” how so?
Y: A good weird though. He’s a genius. And I think he’s got a long way to go, and he’s got a long way to go in Hollywood, where, 10 years from now, I think he’ll be very big…And working with Ryan is like working with a very talented actor and very down-to-Earth person. He’s of course an A-list Hollywood star, but I don’t feel like he is, because every time I meet him before or after work or anything, he’s just like us. He ate Thai food, he’s trying to speak Thai.
CB: How did he do?
Y: He did it well. He was very charming, of course. Very good-looking and very much a gentleman. And I was very lucky to take the first step with him, because I feel like I have the best team already, and I don’t know where I’m going to go from here. But they’ll always be with me, always.
CB: I saw on your IMDB page that you’re a boxer. Is that true?
Y: [laughs] Yes. Last year, I was in Tom Yum Goong Part II, with Tony Jaa, it’s coming out in October. So, I play the role of the murder, the killer, so I had to take some boxing classes for that. From then until now. So it’s helped me a lot. I don’t like going to gym and running in the gym with the air conditioner and stuff, so I love something that really moves me. That gets me sweating and lets me, uh, kick some butts. [laughs]
CB: How do you think Only God Forgives did in terms of portraying Bangkok as a city? I’ve seen a few films that are set in Bangkok, like the Hangover II or Bangkok Dangerous –
Y: And everything’s dangerous in Bangkok, right?
CB: Certainly. But these films, they just portray Thailand in this very bizarre way.
Y: There are many different places in Thailand, but you have to understand that in the West, people think that Bangkok is all about nightlife. It’s why Americans and Europeans want to come here and get drunk and get whatever they want. And you have to understand that it’s the truth, first of all. But I also asked Nicolas about this. He said that he did the movie about a group of people who don’t believe in karma, who don’t believe in God. He didn’t make a movie about Thailand. It’s totally different from his other movies. And as you can see, in my role, she’s a prostitute, but Mai is…she’s a new face of Thai prostitutes, or whatever, but she has a lot of dignity. She respects herself. As you can see, with the scene in the restaurant, when you’re with someone you really love, as Mai loves Julian, and the way his mom treats her, the way that she stays silent, just because she respects Julian, and respects herself. She’s not doing something stupid in front of him, or, the woman he loves, which is his mom. So [Mai] is totally different from other movies, where it’s just get naked or get drunk, or whatever. I think Nick is totally different from other directors, in the way that he sees Thailand.
CB: And another question about Thailand. Do you see yourself as an ambassador for Thailand at all? You’re probably the highest profile Thai actress right now, I think it’s fair to say.
Y: Yeah, I think that’s accurate.
CB: Do you see yourself as being an ambassador for Thailand in that role?
Y: I think I am. And every time when I go overseas for the events, for Cannes and everything, I try to wear something that represents myself as a Thai girl. Like, the greeting things, the wai, the way you dress and everything. They’ve had Thai stars work with Hollywood before, and maybe I’m the latest one. But I will try to do my best. Because I’m Thai, and I’m proud to be Thai, and I will be so proud if I can be a Thai star in Hollywood too. But I’m still Thai.
CB: You seem remarkably calm for someone who’s on the verge of having such a high profile.
Y: [laughs] Really?
CB: Yeah, you seem very laid back.
Y: I’ve been in this career – I was a singer for what? Fourteen years? – it’s about to be 20 years. And the way that I was with my mom, because my mom and my dad got divorced when I was so young, so it’s kind of like I’m assured more than most people who are 30 years old. And maybe Hollywood is big for everyone, but for me it’s only a place where I can challenge myself. I don’t want to be famous. I don’t want to be a really big star. Sometime in the future I might get some American movies and it’s just that. It’s going to be a movie, or some star. It’s just that. Only God Forgives already gave me a name, but what’s with that? Ryan Gosling is still Ryan Gosling. Yayaying is still Yayaying. And Nicolas has still got something new for his project. It’s just that. It’s not something that you scream about or that you really want. I just want to see for myself what God gives me. And maybe just one or two movies there are enough. Because I know that here I am. I love my country. I love my mom, of course. I have to take care of my mom. Who knows? Sometime in the future I might be loved more than this, or be active more than this, but for now, it’s just getting in the way a bit, so I just let it be.
SpencerWeed says
Ryan likes cat's.