The Protector (2005)
Trivia
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Spoilers (1)
Contains one of the longest no-cut fight scenes in movie history: the fight up floor after floor lasted four-plus minutes.
Tony Jaa has developed a new style of Muay Thai specially for the film: "Muay Kotchasan" is based on elephants' movements ("throw, stamp on, grab, break").
According to the director on the special edition DVD, the continuous fight scene took five full takes for a variety of reasons, including stunt objects not breaking and the stunt mat not being in place in time. The five takes were filmed over a one-month period.
This is the first Thai film to be a "top ten film" at the American box office on its opening weekend, opening in fourth place.
The international rights of the film were sold before it even started shooting. This is first Thai film to have done so.
Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinnawat personally attended the premier of this movie in Bangkok, Thailand.
Three cameos: Tony Jaa's father appears at the Songkran scene; a Jackie Chan double in the airport, intended as a tribute to Jaa's idol; and Thai rock star Sek Loso appears prominently in the foreground in one scene drinking his trademark energy drink, which was tied up in a promotional relationship with the movie in Thailand.
"Tom yum goong" is the name of a very popular dish in Thailand. It's a hot-sour soup (prepared with lemon grass) with shrimp.
Spoilers
In most foreign releases of the film, references to Madame Rose being a kathoey (male-to-female transsexual) have been removed, in spite of the fact that the actress playing her (Jing Xing) is also a transsexual. Her survival at the end of the movie has also been cut, instead indicating that she is killed.
