I am inspired by drama’s origins in early Greek civilization. Drama then served to teach ethics and religion to people. The birth of tragedy made people afraid of sin.

 

Directing is like teaching dharma to an audience. Movies are like holding a mirror onto ourselves: what we can learn from good deeds and mistakes. They teach us to understand life from different perspectives and discover who we really are.

 

Wisdom is what I teach my students, not complex techniques. It’s about balancing your mind and body in a state of calm, living without ego and concentrating on the present. This is the core of dharma. It’s important for actors and even directors and playwrights to truly understand themselves and others, because you have to put real soul into your work.

 

Acting is a sacred art, a remarkable and respectful science. So, for me, you can’t place a commercial value on making movies. I don’t care if it makes money or not. I care that it’s valuable for society.

 

I hope to go back to teaching acting soon. But I’m glad that I have had the opportunity to conserve our culture via film. If I didn’t do it, who else would? [Thai film studios] all make Korean-like movies to make money.

 

I make period movies, not remakes. I don’t copy others’ works. I interpret movies from my point of view. The Eternal, The Outrage, Jan Dara, even my latest one, The Scar, are all period movies. I actually do them because Sahamongkol Film founder Somsak “Sia Jiang” Techaratanaprasert asks me to. He gave me the opportunity to make my first movie 30 years ago. Now he asks me to take on the movies he loved. I can’t reject that.

 

Thai culture is forgotten by Thais. It’s been neglected from our education for so long that new generations don’t feel proud of our culture. They almost forget who they are. That’s why there are all these crazy foreign influences.

 

New generations should read classic Thai novels. It’s a way of getting back to our roots. It’s a shame that our education system doesn’t teach our kids to be proud of who we are.

 

Rice farming is an art. It’s been an integral part of the Thai way of life for a long time. It’s a pity that we’re losing it all to modernization, along with our identity. I hope The Scar will reignite a sense of patriotism, especially in our traditional way of life.

 

Farmers are always exploited under the name of democracy. I’m amazed that the situations in the novel [that The Scar is based on], written in 1923, are just like what we’re facing today, where politicians use democracy to profit from farmers.

 

Democracy is a seed that does not belong in our climate. I’m 60 years old, I’ve monitored the political situation here for decades and know that for 80 years, democracy hasn’t made our country a better place. It was born in the West, where the culture is different. It’s good for educated, mature and ethical people who understand individualism, human rights and the boundaries of freedom without violating others.

 

Democracy isn’t about the majority. If the majority are bandits who say robbery is the right thing and drugs are good, what would become of this country?

 

I don’t care which regime runs this country. All I know is it must be the regime that brings Thailand peace, not a democracy that leads us to kill each other.

 

Capitalism destroys our goodness. It values money more than the heart. I blame the capitalist governments who use marketing-like policies to run this country. I can see why teenagers want to become celebrities to make easy money.

 

Doomsday is coming. I believe that. It seems like the world is getting punished by nature or God or whatever. Humans are arrogant to think that this world belongs to them, going about destroying others’ lives for their benefit. Humans are so busy with their own business they forget their true nature.

 

I was stupid for waiting until I was 50 to study Buddhism. I never cared about dharma, only science, and I always drank alcohol. One day my sister took me to a temple for meditation when I was hungover. It ignited my curiosity about dharma. The more I study, the more I regret not getting to the core of Buddhism earlier.

 

My ultimate dream is to be a monk. I planned to retire at 60 and go live and study dharma in Chiang Mai. But I haven’t had the chance to do this yet as I’m still busy with all these projects.

 

Understand your nature and the reality you’re living with now and deal with it. Don’t live in the past, and you never know what the future will bring.