At first sight, it’s a film that feels the need for speed. Kao (Nat Kitcharit) is an aspiring cup stacker who’s had a tunnel vision dream since he was in high school: to break a world record, go pro, get sponsored, and move to America. Inspired by John Wick and a slew of action stars, he unblinkingly threatens his 10-year-old competition halfway across the globe like a baseball-cap wearing Liam Neeson, saying, in carefully-articulated, accented English: “I will find you, and I will kill you.” Beneath the layers of eccentric screwball comedy lies the dilemma at the heart of Fast and Feel Love, of Kao’s long-term girlfriend, Jay (Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund) realizing her domestic devotion to allowing Kao to realize his dream has come at the expense of her own pursuits and her desire to start a family.
Too old to be reeling through the rollercoaster of adolescent first-love, but still too young to be ensnared in a typical middle-aged crisis, Kao and jJay find themselves uniquely seesawing between the sunset of youth’s bright-eyed ideas and its forgiveness of wide-eyed mishaps, and the dawn of adult life, encroaching fast with tangible responsibilities (like establishing long-term savings and dealing with the trials and travails of homeowning, like fixing a perpetually pesky water pump) and t. Through it all, the two face the simultaneously daunting and courageous task of forging long-term commitments, to those who one loves and longsstrives to support, but most of all, to oneself.
Just before the stars of the film walked NYAFF’s Opening Night red carpet, they sat down along with director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit to talk about preparing for the film amidst a pandemic and the creative process for developing two unique characters on and off the set.
INTERVIEW
NYAFF: I started by asking Nawapol about the experience of preparing for this film, and I’m wondering what that process was like from an actor’s perspective.
Nat Kitcharit: I’ll go first. I think for me it was more like a step-by-step process. I was first informed that I would be working with Nawapol, and then later I was informed that I would be working with Yaya as well. We really got to know each other during the process of our workshop and started to gradually create both of the characters.
YAYA: It was really interesting though because when we did our workshops it was during major lockdown in Thailand, so we did almost everything through Zoom.
NYAFF: Wow.
NK: It was really difficult.
YAYA: It was, like, nearly one of the most difficult workshops, not only because it’s Nawapol (laughs), but because we did everything through a screen. And I don’t know if that helped even more because I think he [Nawapol] could look at a lot of the stuff through a screen as well. And we had to try extra hard to get it right because we weren’t face-to-face. But it was good – it was a good experience and we made the best out of the situation.
NYAFF: What was it like once you were all on set? Were there any shifts that you could feel – like was it more challenging to be in-person, or did you feel prepared even though there was a pandemic and everything was happening remotely?
YAYA: I think we did a really intensive workshop.
NK: He [Nawapol] has this very accurate comedic tone about how each character would talk, to what degree, the tone, everything, really. Like if you open our scripts, right, there’s a mark in every sentence.
YAYA: Oh man, there’s like no white space left on the pieces of paper.
Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit: (laughs)
NK: Basically, we rehearsed everything in the workshops.
YAYA: We covered everything during the workshops
NK: But then on set we always did one last take where he [Nawapol] let us try something new.
NYAFF: Yeah, Nawapol and I were talking about that one scene where you’re sitting down and reference the fact that you’re in a movie.
NK: Oh! Yeah. (laughs)
NYAFF: Was that just a spur of the moment, improvised choice for you?
NK: In the scene when we’re talking and fighting over the water pump, as we did more takes, I slowly started realizing that the camera kept moving towards me. And you get that sense that, I’m a little bit annoyed, every time the camera is moving so fast and you hear the sounds of the dolly, and everything’s moving… so I just said that.
NYAFF: Is it also you stacking in the film?
NK: Well, partly. I am very slow actually.
YAYA: No you’re not! He’s pretty good.
NAT: Ok.
YAYA: He is pretty good. He’s just being modest.
NK: Ok. (laughs)
NYAFF: Did you also visit the stacking schools, or talk to any students or aspiring sports stackers?
NK: We had one real stacking athlete on set who helped me to do it right. There were a lot of post production things, you know those magical things, that made me look really fast. The speed was all part of the editing.
NYAFF: What were some memorable parts of the shoot, for all three of you?
YAYA: I think for me it was probably the first day. Like I said, we did a lot of stuff through Zoom and we hardly got together. I feel the moment that we actually stepped on set it was like a pure connection. Everything went perfectly and, I don’t know, once we stepped in we were actually in the world of the characters. That was a magical moment for me.
NK: For me it was that after the film was done, we still kept in touch. It’s not like we hang out everyday, but like Yaya said, we created that bond which doesn’t happen in every project.
YAYA: No, it doesn’t.
NK: This was really great.
Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit: To me, it was every day. Because as I said, I tried to experiment on set. I didn’t know the results of the day, but because of this I had so much fun! I didn’t know if this or that cut would work or come out. For me, it was fun every day. Every single day was memorable.
NYAFF: We were also talking about how this movie was inspired by superheroes. How did you get into the deeper process of relating to and understanding these characters?
NK: I think it was very clear from the first moment that you can’t really just think you’re in a comedy movie. You have to be really serious and trust in what you’re doing. You have to be really focused. For me, I thought, “You have to be the fastest man on the planet, forget all of the adult skills.” I think to me that was very clear through the direction also; despite the comedic tone, we were still very serious.
NT: I had to show them how to be the “right” superhero. You know, Batman is not Superman – he’s different. I had to show them the right characters, like, Kao is like this, not like that. Like Bruce Wayne is more calm than Iron Man – he’s not Tony Stark.
NK: And he’s also not Alfred.
NYAFF: Did you watch a lot of superhero movies or action movies to prepare, or what references did you draw from to develop your characters?
YAYA: I had a reference book, but mine had nothing to do with superhero movies at all. I’m the domestic, Hey, snap to the reality! kind of character.
NT: I had her watch Frances Ha. I wanted her to be realistic. Also Annie Hall. Because in the relationship aspects of the movie I wanted it to feel real. I like Woody Allen, I thought Frances Ha was kind of a Woody Allen-type film, so I suggested she watch these two films.
NK: I think, like you said, Annie Hall was one big film, but also I was thinking about Batman, Superman, all types of heroes.
NT: I think Batman was really important. The Dark Knight in particular.
NK: He [Nawapol] once described to me that this relationship is like picturing that Alfred quit on Batman. And then, let’s say, like, Alfred drives the batmobile into the water, or just drives off. It’s like Batman saying, Who locked the door on me? Alfred. It was a feeling like that.
NYAFF: We’re out of time – unfortunately! – but thank you for talking this evening and answering some quick questions.
NT: Thank you so much!
This interview took place on Friday, July 15, 2022, with Alexandra Bentzien and Nat Kitcharit, Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund, and Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit.
