'The Beach' runs into more legal trouble in Thailand

Asian Economic News, Feb 15, 1999

BANGKOK, Feb. 8 Kyodo Thai environmentalists have launched legal action against Twentieth Century Fox, accusing the company of violating Thai law and damaging the environment in making the film "The Beach" in Thailand, police said Monday. Representatives of the Khao Yai Protection Assembly and the Law Society of Thailand called on the police to investigate the filming activities at Khao Yai National Park in the northeastern province of Nakonratchasima.

The assembly, a local nongovernmental organization, accused the filming team of altering the landscape at the Haew Suwat waterfall for the shooting in the park, according to the police. Changing the existing natural conditions of the national park without permission of the authorized agency is against the law, the police said, noting that the preliminary investigation showed the Ministry of Agriculture allowed the filming. But the ministry violated the national park law and the Constitution since it must consult the local administrative body prior to giving permission and had not done so, said Baripat Sunthorn, a member of the assembly. Thailand's Constitution allows local people to participate in natural resource management, instead of just a few state agencies under the previous charter. The assembly urged the Royal Forest Department, an agency under the Ministry of Agriculture, to disclose the agreement signed with Twentieth Century Fox and explain whether the company had legal ground to change the natural conditions in the park. The department has refused the request, saying the company and the department did nothing against the law. A spokeswoman for Twentieth Century Fox said the company did not harm the natural environment at the park but fixed artificial rocks at a cliff near the waterfall from where the lead actor -- Leonardo DiCaprio -- has to jump into the water. "The extension plate -- decorated as rock -- was built to make sure the actor can jump down from the cliff into the water safely...and to build this plate we do not dig or cut anything at the fall," she said. The waterfall will be closed to the public for the filming, scheduled for Monday to Wednesday. "The Beach" ran into legal trouble while shooting on the southern island of Phi Phi last month, with the filming team accused of uprooting indigenous plants and digging up the Maya beach to plant 92 coconut trees. Based on a novel by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle, "The Beach" tells the story of Richard, acted by DiCaprio, who receives a map to a secret island from a mysterious stranger. Richard sets off for this paradise, where he joins what appears to be a utopian civilization, but soon discovers his new home is far from perfect.