Thinking outside the 'Boxer'
By
Bill Picture | Staff Writer
Published on Friday,
January 21, 2005
URL:
http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/012105a_boxerinterview
First-time director Ekachai Uekrongtham admits he was surprised when executives at Thailand's GMM Pictures chose "Beautiful Boxer," a film based on the true story of famed Thai boxer Nong Toom, who shocked fans when he underwent male-to-female sexual reassignment surgery in 1999, from a handful of ideas Uekrongtham pitched to the studio.
"I thought, 'Now how am I going to make a film about someone so extraordinary that will be meaningful to people who are ordinary?'" Uekrongtham explains during a recent visit in San Francisco. "But I quickly discovered in researching Toom's life and in speaking with her that her story is really very universal in the sense that we are all struggling to find our place in this world."
As a boy living in the Chang Mai province of northern Thailand, Toom was anything but the rough-and-tumble type. In fact, from about the time that Toom was able to form his first sentence, he sensed a disturbing disconnect between mind and body.
His talent in the boxing ring was something Toom happened upon as a teenager during a dare. But the buzz he got from finally excelling at something, coupled with the adulation of the crowd and the money he knew he stood to make, prompted Toom to successfully master the popular blood sport.
Playing Toom was no walk in the park, according to first-time actor Asanee Suwan, who underwent a year of intensive training, including classes in ballet, traditional Thai dance, acting and charm, to prepare for the role.
Suwan, himself a Thai kickboxing champ, says the experience left him with a newfound respect for women and transgender people.
"What really made me understand how hard it is to be a woman was getting my legs waxed," the 24-year-old jokes.
The real-life Toom, who now works as a model and actress in Bangkok, says she was reluctant to, as she puts it, "advertise her past" but believes that, for the sake of transgender visibility, it was important to tell her story and applauds Uekrongtham and Suwan for their accurate portrayal of her.
"I hope my story will give people strength in making decisions, particularly difficult ones," Toom adds. "We may not be able to control some things, like how we are born, but we can control our happiness by being true to ourselves."