A brave new twist

THE dark fantasy television series, Halfworlds, which premiered in November 2015, revolves around an underground society populated by immortal demons.
It was directed by Indonesian Joko Anwar and stars mostly ­Indonesian actors, with the exception of Bront Palarae and Putri Balqish from Malaysia, and Nathan Hartono from Singapore.
The series turned out to be a huge success. The second season of the series premiered on HBO (Astro channel 411) last Sunday.
But things have changed in the new season of Halfworlds.
For one, the man at the helm is award-winning Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham who takes over from Joko.
Director Ekachai made his debut as a feature film director in 2003 with Beautiful Boxer, a ­biographical drama about transsexual ­professional Muay Thai boxer Nong Thoom. The film earned rave reviews and won several awards.
His second film, Pleasure Factory, about sex workers and their customers in Singapore’s Geylang red-light district, was an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
His third film was The Coffin, a 2008 supernatural Thai film.
In 2014, Ekachai directed an action-drama on human trafficking called Skin Trade, which starred Dolph Lundgren and was shot in Bangkok and Vancouver in Canada.
Halfworlds is the first TV series he has directed.
“Season two is about two Fs,” says Ekachai, during an interview with theSun in ­Bangkok recently.
“The first F [stands for] family. There are two types of family: the first is the one we are born with, and the second is the one we collect as we go through life.”
The other F, he says, refers to friendship.
“There are [also] two types of friendship,” Ekachai adds. “The first one is forged under positive circumstance, and the other type is forged under harsh circumstance.”
He says a person always has a strong yearning to be connected with another person and he believes such a yearning makes good drama.
“I’m very interested in the concept of immortality,” he says, but adds that he believes ­immortality is ­meaningless “unless you have someone to share it with”.
The second change in Halfworlds season two is that only two actors from the first season are ­returning – ­Indonesian actors Reza ­Rahadian and Arifin Putra – who play Tony and Barata ­respectively.
The rest of the cast are new and ­mostly comprise Thai ­actors, with the exception of Jake ­Macapagal from the Philippines.

Set in Bangkok, the story follows a researcher named Juliet, who is trying to uncover the secret world of the Peesaj – the immortal demons who look like ­humans and live among the humans.
Her curiosity ­attracts the attention of these immortal beings.
The leader of this community, Charlie, sends one of his men, Fyter, to kill her. But Fyter soon finds himself attracted to Juliet.

Dashing Thai actor-singer Peem Jaiyen, who plays Fryter, explains his character’s dilemma: “He is torn between protecting his world, and killing the woman he loves.”
In real life, Peem says he will not have difficulty deciding between duty and love. “I will not do what Fyter [does],” he said. “I will do ­anything to protect the one I love.”
Playing Juliet is Thai-South African model Tia Tavee, who was Miss Teen Thailand 2012.
“My character realises Fyter is a wounded soul, and she wants to heal him,” she says.
This is Tia’s first role in a TV series, and she hopes to pursue acting more seriously in future.
Award-winning actor David Asavanond plays the villainous Charlie.
“I do not see him as evil,” says David. “He loves his [people] and he wants independence for them.
“He has to become ­manipulative and calculative to get what he wants [and] has to hurt people to achieve this goal.
“He becomes bad for the greater good of his community.”
Watch a repeat of episodes 1 and 2 of Halfworlds season two tonight at 9pm and 9.50pm on HBO.