Meeting Thai Actor: Mario Maurer

I am not a fan of Thai showbiz, but I happen to know some popular faces in this kingdom’s entertainment industry. Since Thai TV had accompanied me through my first months here, I was able to make sense of the alien TV programs in an entirely alien language. I also watched Thai movies, thinking that it would help me sharpen my Thai language skills. It was when I bumped into a popular Thai movie on Youtube, “Love of Siam”, that I was able to know Mario Maurer. If you happen to know this movie which [I believe] scored big time in the Philippines, you would probably know Mario Maurer. He bagged the Best Actor award in the tenth edition of Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila and numerous local awards.

I met him last Monday during their shooting day in one of the schools nearby. During that time, the production team was just preparing a new location. Unlike what I witnessed back home [whenever there are shootings] fans in multitude gather around the area to have a peek of their favorite movie stars. Here, the people seem not to pay much attention of the on going activity. I was just walking around the school to attend a caroling practice, and then I saw this guy roaming around in his skateboard. I recognized him easily because his face is a common cover of magazines here and I usually see him on TV with a 'thousand' microphones positioned towards his mouth. I was able to approach him without any interference from the production crew. I took a picture and he even started the conversation. “Where are you from?”, “You speak Tagalog? [he pronounced as Tahkalokh] So on and so forth. We talked about some random stuff for a good five minutes.

For an actor whose “star status” in Thailand right now is somewhat comparable to Sam Milby/John Lloyd Cruz, I was surprised that I was able to approach him that easily. No bouncers. No guards. No screaming. No pushing. No crowd control. No crowd. I didn’t even thought that I would see him right there in my usual weekend hang out.

By the way, he also shared something about his bestfriend, "My bestfriend is Filipino", he told me. 

(INPUT-Dec2611) The movie Mario was shooting during this time was "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" which became extremely popular among Filipino youngsters. Later on, Mario would sign an endorsement contract with Philippine's clothing brand, Penshoppe. The writer would also be an envy among some friends and officemates upon learning about this little story. 

*originally posted at www.multiply.com on December 8, 2009