Interesting tidbits about Tony Jaa

[Guest WuxiaFan]

Here are some interesting tidbits about Tony Jaa that I saw recently:

1. Jaa's real name is Panom Yeerum, and he is 33 years old.

2. Jaa isn't an ethnic Thai. He is actually of Cambodian descent.

3. Jaa grew up in a rural area of Thailand and watched films by Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li at temple fairs, and learned to imitate their moves whilst creating his own, such as somersaulting off the backs of his family's elephants into the nearby river.

4. When he was 15, Jaa requested to become a protégé of stuntman/director Panna Rittikrai, who sent him off to the Maha Sarakham College of Physical Education.

5. His role in the movie "Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior" required several years training in the ancient form of Muay Boran, which is different than the less deadly art of Muay Thai because it focuses on extremely powerful elbow and knee techniques thrown at full speed.

6. Tony was offered a chance to play the villain in "Rush Hour 3" by one of his childhood heroes, Jackie Chan. Unfortunately, he had to turn down the role because of scheduling conflicts with the shooting of "Ong-Bak 2".

7. Besides Muay Thai and Muay Boran, Jaa has also practiced and is skilled in Taekwondo, Judo, Aikido, swordsmanship, and gymnastics. He trains in these disciplines for at least 8 hours each day.

8. Although he wasn't credited for it, Tony was Robin Shou's stunt double in the 1997 movie "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation".

9. Jaa is 5' 6" (1.68 m) tall.

10. Jaa's new movie, "Ong-Bak 3" is currently in production, and is slated for a December, 2009 release in Thailand.

Looking forward to ONG BAK 3. Just hope he doesn't try to direct it.

[kaleyboy]

I see somebody else also gets the HKflix newsletter.

[Guest Yi-Long]

Here are some interesting tidbits about Tony Jaa that I saw recently:

1. Jaa's real name is Panom Yeerum, and he is 33 years old.

2. Jaa isn't an ethnic Thai. He is actually of Cambodian descent.

3. Jaa grew up in a rural area of Thailand and watched films by Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li at temple fairs, and learned to imitate their moves whilst creating his own, such as somersaulting off the backs of his family's elephants into the nearby river.

4. When he was 15, Jaa requested to become a protégé of stuntman/director Panna Rittikrai, who sent him off to the Maha Sarakham College of Physical Education.

5. His role in the movie "Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior" required several years training in the ancient form of Muay Boran, which is different than the less deadly art of Muay Thai because it focuses on extremely powerful elbow and knee techniques thrown at full speed.

6. Tony was offered a chance to play the villain in "Rush Hour 3" by one of his childhood heroes, Jackie Chan. Unfortunately, he had to turn down the role because of scheduling conflicts with the shooting of "Ong-Bak 2".

7. Besides Muay Thai and Muay Boran, Jaa has also practiced and is skilled in Taekwondo, Judo, Aikido, swordsmanship, and gymnastics. He trains in these disciplines for at least 8 hours each day.

8. Although he wasn't credited for it, Tony was Robin Shou's stunt double in the 1997 movie "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation".

9. Jaa is 5' 6" (1.68 m) tall.

10. Jaa's new movie, "Ong-Bak 3" is currently in production, and is slated for a December, 2009 release in Thailand.

Looking forward to ONG BAK 3. Just hope he doesn't try to direct it.

What was wrong with the directing on OB3?

I love Tony. He seems a perfectionist and always aiming to improve. When another director takes charge, he might settle for less.

[DeathFuMaster]

Yes I also recieved this newsletter. A few things about Jaa were interesting, some we knew.

[Mark Pollard]

I'm glad he didn't do RUSH HOUR 3. What an ignoble entry into Hollywood that would be. He's not ready for Hollywood anyway, certainly not Brett Ratner's Hollywood.

[Guest WuxiaFan]

What was wrong with the directing on OB3?

I love Tony. He seems a perfectionist and always aiming to improve. When another director takes charge, he might settle for less.

Look at what happened with OB2

Yes, this was from the latest HKFlix newsletter. I was not trying to pass it off as my own.

Agree with Mark on RH3. That would have been a disaster.

[kaleyboy]

He just ran out of money making Ong-Bak 2, and you can see why: fantastic production values for a thai movie and about 3 times as much action as most other martial arts movies. WTF is wrong with that?

[Guest WuxiaFan]

He just ran out of money making Ong-Bak 2, and you can see why: fantastic production values for a thai movie and about 3 times as much action as most other martial arts movies. WTF is wrong with that?

Before you start throwing "WTF"'s around, maybe you should do a little more homework. I love Tony Jaa. I think he can easily become the next martial arts superstar, but with OB2, he bit off more than he could chew. To quote from Mark Pollard's story on the main site, here's what I meant by my previous post:

As an outside observer, it looks to me like Jaa took on too much responsibility too quickly and at the wrong time. Unlike many of his Hong Kong peers, Jaa has had a very short rise to superstardom in an industry that lacks the same mature support network of Hong Kong's once thriving action filmmaking community. It took over 20 years and dozens of movies for Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung to reach the level of international fame that Jaa has managed to claim after only starring in a few movies. Years of working alongside dozens of equally talented stunt actors and filmmakers gave the Hong Kong stars all the time they needed to learn, not only the craft of filmmaking but also the business of it."

Here's the link to the full article:

http://www.kungfucinema.com/stressed-tony-jaa-abandons-ong-bak-2-2594

[kaleyboy]

I read that article when Mark first wrote it. But it's just conjecture; none of us really know what happened on the set of OB2, all we can judge by is the finished product. I thought OB2 was a stunning first directoriel effort, and if the worst he did was run out of money, then that's nothing to worry about too much. when Jet Li directed his first movie in 1986, Born To Defence, he almost crippled himself by doing a badly set-up stunt. It has since caused him to be doubled in most of his movies since. All in all, I would rather see Tony Jaa directing OB3 than Prachya Pinkaew, whose work always seems cliched and predictable.