Matt Dillon Also Plans Film in Cambodia, Looks to Early 2001
In the next four months, two film companies will be shooting scenes for their upcoming flicks in Cambodia, marking the first mainstream movie making the country has seen since “Lord Jim” was filmed here in 1964.
First up is the big-budget action feature, “Tomb Raider,” which will be shot from Nov 23 to Nov 30 in and around Angkor Wat. Based on the popular video game featuring archeologist Lara Croft, the film will star Angelina Jolie of “Girl, Interrupted.”
Som Sokun, director of cinema for the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said Paramount Pictures has agreed to keep gunplay or graphic sequences out of the temple complex.
“They are planning to film in three to five temples,” including Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Angkor Thom, he said. A film crew of at least 100 will be brought. The Apsara Authority will be paid $10,000 per day of shooting.
The second film, “Beneath the Banyan Tree,” is a contemporary thriller starring Matt Dillon. Som Sokun said he does not yet know how large the crew will be, but said it will film in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Bangkok in January and February.
Dillon will play Jimmy Cremmins, an American con artist in search of his mentor and father figure, a crook named Marvin who has fled the US after the failure of an insurance scam sets the Russian mafia on his trail.
Marvin tries to enlist Cremmins in a scheme to build a casino, but Cremmins meets a beautiful French woman, Sophie, who is working with a foundation to restore Angkorean temples.
With the help of his Cambodian friend and guide, a cyclo driver named Doc, Cremmins struggles toward redemption against the chaotic background of Phnom Penh.
Som Sokun said the Dillon film is expected to cast some Cambodian actors, but he does not yet know how many. “We want to provide them all the help we can,” he said.
