When this movie was being shot in Bangkok in September 2006, a military coup temporarily interrupted the filming. The crew were night shooting at a smelly dockland warehouse area on the Chao Praya river when it happened. The first they heard of the incident was when the producers were being asked to cease their gunfire in case it could be taken the wrong way and they were then informed that there had been a military take-over of the government and saw the tanks rolling down the streets.
This colourful nugget of movie-making trivia came from my friend Michael Davison who was sadly killed two weeks ago in a freak road accident while on vacation in Hawaii.
Michael was Nicolas Cage’s personal assistant and prior to that assistant to Warren Beatty. I met him years ago through a mutual friend and for years I’ve been fascinated to hear his broad range of fascinating, frightening and funny movie-making tales.
Michael had many friends and his death has shocked and saddened everyone. He was a unique character with a cheeky sense of humour and loved his life and his job. Every now and again I'd receive an email from him with a picture from some exotic location, which would always make me smile. He certainly saw a lot of the world.
Michael was also incredibly thoughtful. One day I happened to mention in passing that my Movie Talk colleague News Muse/Hound had a bit of a crush on his boss (read what she had to say about Bangkok Dangerous here). A week or so later, a signed photo unexpectedly arrived in the post. She was over the moon, as you can imagine. He was that sort of guy - despite his busy schedule, he still had time to think of others.
My thoughts go out to Michael's family and his friends all across the world.
Bangkok Dangerous is showing on Sky Movies Premiere tonight at 9.40pm
