Sandbox:Sompote Sands
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Sompote "Sands" Saengduenchai (Thai: สมโพธิ แสงเดือนฉาย, RTGS: Somphothi Saengdueanchai), born Lek Saengduenchai (Thai: เล็ก แสงเดือนฉาย, RTGS: Lek Saengdueanchai),[3] was a Thai film producer, special effects director, and the founding chairman of Chaiyo Productions.
Sompote Sands was born into a Sino Thai family, as his father was a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong. His original name was Lek as he was the youngest son in the family. He was a temple boy from the age of 7, asking his parents to let him live there on his own, with the dream of becoming a filmmaker since childhood, inspired by the cartoons of Prayoon Chanyawong and the traveling films that were shown near the temple. It was at this temple that the abbot changed his name to Sompote as it is known today, which means Sambodhiñana or the enlightenment of the Buddha. Sompote began learning about filmmaking by working as an employee at a photography shop.
In 1962, when Sompote was 20 years old, he received a scholarship from the Government Savings Bank and Mitsui Bank to study film techniques in Japan for 2 years at Toho Studios and met Eiji Tsuburaya and legendary director Akira Kurosawa as an intern. He later ended up staying in Japan for longer than 2 years, learning techniques from Tsuburaya and Kurosawa, until eventually going back to Thailand. He created Chaiyo Productions to become a full-time filmmaker using the techniques he learned in Japan. In 1973, his first major picture as a director, Tah Tien, which was shot on 35mm, released to massive success, earning 1.4 million baht in just the first weekend and 3 million baht after 2 weeks. Noburu Tsuburaya, son of Eiji Tsuburaya, later asked Sompote to codirect, alongside Shohei Tojo, and produce 2 films using the IPs of Tsuburaya Productions as the company was in a $500,000 debt. Those films later turned out to become Yak Wat Jaeng Meets Jumborg Ace and Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen, which both released in Thailand in 1974 to success. Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen was later sent to Japan in 1979 to be cut down and redubbed in Japanese, retitled The Six Ultra Brothers vs. The Monster Army. The Thai cut of Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen was recut and reissued in 1984 as Hanuman and the Eleven Ultramen, with footage from Ultraman ZOFFY inserted into the film. Hanuman and the Eleven Ultramen was then illegally recut into the film Space Warriors 2000 (originally titled & distributed as Space Warriors 1999), with new footage filmed with British actors in the United Kingdom, and released in the United States in 1985, syndicated to television by Cinema Shares, where it played from the mid 1980s to the 1990s. Sompote ended up directing and producing various other films, such as Hanuman and the Five Kamen Riders in 1975, Crocodile in 1979, Khaki in 1980, Phra Rot Meri in 1981, and Magic Lizard in 1985.
Sompote died of cancer on August 26, 2021, at the age of 80.[4]
Selected filmography
Special effects intern
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) [uncredited][2]
Executive producer
- Tah Tien (1973)
- Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen (1974) [with Noboru Tsuburaya][a]
- Hanuman Meets Eleven Ultramen (1984)
Director of special effects
- Tah Tien (1973)
- Jumborg Ace and Giant (1974) [with Kazuo Sagawa]
- Mars Men (1976) [stock footage; uncredited]
- Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen (1974) [with Kazuo Sagawa][b]
- Hanuman Meets Eleven Ultramen (1984) [stock footage][c]
- Space Warriors 2000 (1985) [stock footage][d]
- Crocodile (1980) [with Kazuo Sagawa]
- Phra Rot Meri (1981)
Gallery
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Sompote Sands outside Toho Studios -
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Sompote Sands on the set of King Kong vs. Godzilla -
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Sompote Sands and Haruo Nakajima in the KingGoji suit -
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Sompote Sands and Mie Hama -
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Sompote Sands and Eiji Tsuburaya -
Sompote Sands and Kazuo Sagawa on the set of Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen -
Sompote Sands and Minoru Nakano on the set of Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen -
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Trivia
- Sands reunited with Eiji Tsuburaya on December 25, 1969, a month before the latter's death.[5] He also revisited Toho Studios on this or a similar trip, posing for photos with a Kamacuras puppet and a Minilla upper-half suit.[6]
Notes
- ↑ Sands is given the highest "executive producer" (อำนวยการสร้าง am-nuai kan-sang) credit on the original Thai version, with the only other producer being Nikhom Sihsurat as "foreign producer" (อำนวยการสร้างต่างประเทศ am-nuai kan-sang tang-pra-thet). The Japanese version instead gives Noboru Tsuburaya the highest "produced by" (制作 seisaku) credit, with Sands and Hisao Ito lower as "producer" (プロデューサー purodyūsā). As it was a Thai–Japanese production, both credit lists have been reflected here.
- ↑ The original Thai version credits Sands as "technical director" (กำกับเทคนิค kam-kap thek-nik) and the Japanese version credits Sagawa for "special technology" (特殊技術 tokushu gijutsu), with neither mentioning the other man. As it was a Thai–Japanese production, both credit lists have been reflected here.
- ↑ Sands is credited alone as the "technical director" (กำกับเทคนิค kam-kap thek-nik). However, the film consists entirely of footage from Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen, whose special effects Sands co-directed with Kazuo Sagawa, and from the Japanese movie Ultraman Zoffy, which featured original Ultra footage directed by Koichi Takano along with stock special effects by numerous directors.
- ↑ A U.S. localized version of Hanuman Meets Eleven Ultramen with new scenes of Western actors replacing the Thai ones. Sands is credited as the "oriental" director (i.e., of the special effects) which, like the original version, gives the false impression he directed even the Japanese footage.
References
This is a list of references for Sompote Sands. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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Bibliography
- Limthongkul, Jittanat; Kamolrattanakul, Nattha, eds. (c. 2000s). "Sompote Saengduenchai: The Thai Who Helped Create Ultraman". Ultraman Chronicles Vol. 1. Mast EX (in ไทย). Tanabun Pinklao. ISBN 974-94166-4-3.
- Kihara, Hirokatsu; Shimizu, Toshifumi; Nakamura, Satoshi, eds. (31 March 2010). "Godzilla" Toho Tokusatsu Unpublished Materials Archive: Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka and His Era (in 日本語). Kadokawa Shoten Publishing. ISBN 978-4-04-854465-8.
- Hiramatsu, Hideki (30 November 2022). "The Modern Development of Ramakian, the Thai Ramayana, as Seen in Films by Chaiyo Studio". Ramayana Theater in Contemporary Southeast Asia (ebook ed.). Jenny Stanford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-003-29095-7 – via Google Books.
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