Tony Jaa Becomes Buddhist Monk
The star of Ong Bak Tony Jaa has reportedly become a Buddhist monk. It’s fairly common in Thailand for men to go monastic for brief periods then return to a secular life afterwards. Think of it like a vacation from real life during which time you don’t have to wear underwear. This might be just what the actor/director needs after a tumultuous production of Ong Bak 2.
From Twitch:
The initial footage from that film looked fantastic but it didn’t take long for strange stories to emerge from the set – stories of Jaa sacrificing chickens before shooting for the day could commence – and things rapidly fell behind schedule and way over budget. And then, with pressure mounting and debts adding up, Jaa simply crumbled under the pressure and disappeared.
If you’ve never seen Ong Bak, you’re missing out on one of the greatest martial arts flicks of the decade. Tony Jaa brings it with mind-blowing stunts, unprecedented athleticism, and fight work that would make Bruce himself go: daaaaaayum! The work that Jaa is doing has elevated martial arts movie-making the same way the Hong Kong kung fu flicks did in the early 90′s.
Jaa’s second film Tom Yum Goong features the greatest single-shot (no cuts) fight sequences of all time. In it, Jaa fights his way up several floors of a building… aaah easier to just show you:
Yeeeeaaaaahhh… breakin’ limbs and takin’ names.
Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong are easily top 10 martial arts movies to own for me. Are they available on blu-ray, you ask? Of course! Tom Yum Goong was released stateside as The Protector
Hopefully Jaa will be right again after his time at Club Monk. Hopefully he’s learned from his past experiences and will continue to do his fans right with more movies.
Neha
said
tony is really an outstanding actor . i think it’s a good decision to be a monk where one has to eat only vegetarian foods.