Hollywood came looking for me: Vithaya Pansringarm

He started his acting career at the age of 50 Currently 55 Vithaya Pansringarm has starred in more than 10 films so far mdash a majority of them from Thailand However you might recognise him from his work in The Hangover Part II 2011 and more importantly for his role opposite Ryan Goslings in Only God Forgives 2013Vithaya PansringarmOn his second visit to India his calm demeanour armed with impeccable English makes him delightful After the screening of his latest film The Last Executioner at Jagran Film Festival the actor chatted with us about life and cinemaQ Do you rehearse a lot before a shot or just go with the flowA I dont rely much on workshops To me its all about catching the right energy Sometimes actors tend to judge their role and ask themselves whether theyll look good or bad on the screen I dont do that My job as an actor is to execute the character in however I can If the role requires me to be a killer Im that guy If it wants me to be a saint Im that guy as wellQ Speaking of killing your character in Only God Forgives did a lot of thatA Laughs I know But theres something much more interesting that happened back then I was cast in the film three years before the film even went on floor And I was patiently waiting By the time the director Nicolas Winding Refn got back I was 103 kg One look at me and he said ldquoYoure too big to be an exboxerrdquo So for the next nine months without knowing whether Id be recast or not I hit the gym twice a day and lost 23 kg I was willing to lose weight but I wasnt willing to lose the chance of working with someone like NicolasVithaya Pansringarm and Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refns controversial film Only God Forgives Q And how was the experience shooting that epic fight scene with Ryan GoslingA Since almost all the fighting shots were done at a wide angle there was not much space left for camera tricks We had a slew of wellchoreographed sequences mdash involving the art of avoiding punches laughs a bit mdash but I got hit quite a few times Although the fight scene lasted merely 25 minutes in the film it took us three nights to complete itQ Was Gosling a supportive coactorA Hes fantastic Im more than grateful to have had the chance of working with a talent like him What I like the most about him is that hes this huge Hollywood star but on the sets hes very professional and downtoearth Hes an Alist and Im a nolist Yet he doesnt see the difference Fortunately I can call him a friend todayQ What made you sign up for The Last ExecutionerA The story Its about this real life guy who was the last prisoner executioner in Thailand to use a machine gun The biopic shows his musical side and how conflicted he was to have a job that made him kill criminals for a living As an actor I seek challenges so when the script came my way I pounced on the roleQ In your last two films your characters either kill people or singA Laughs Id say the things I learnt as a young man thinking they are of no use those are the very skills that have helped me as an older man I always liked to sing and play the guitar I just didnt knew theyd come handy somedayQ Do you consider moving to Hollywood anytime soonA When I started out mdash as you know a bit too late mdash my idea of success was to be able to go to the convenient store and buy what I liked without a worry But today after travelling to some of the finest film festivals in the world with my films I think Ive received much more than I expected To answer your question Hollywood came looking for me and Im always looking for good films