LA-based Stephan Zlotescu directed and wrote an acclaimed short film titled True Skin which was shot in Thailand three years ago. The sci-fi short film depicts a dark future where enhancing your body with mechanical parts is the new norm and those who remain natural are of lesser beings. A mysterious man named Kay (played by Stephan) is on the run from the authorities after stealing a classified prototype. It recently got picked up by Amazon Studios for a possible adaptation into a TV series. Stephan, who got his master's degree in Computer Graphics from New York's School of Visual Arts, talks with Guru about his famous short film and gives us a glimpse of what the future series may look like.
Let's go back to the time you filmed True Skin. Did Bangkok inspire the story in any way?
I filmed True Skin all over Bangkok from Asoke, Chitlom, Thonglor to Silom and even some parts were shot in Pattaya. I had the story in my head and had already filmed a version of it in America, but when I came to Bangkok on a trip, it felt like I was on a set straight out of Blade Runner. Immediately I asked my director of photography, H1, to come to Bangkok to help me re-film it. We set out on nightly runs throughout the city, filming as much as we could that would pertain to the story. When I looked at the footage, I knew we were on to something, especially the night we jumped over a fence in Silom to film tombstones in a Chinese cemetery. The marriage between body modifying and the vibrant neon-lit aesthetic of Bangkok was a perfect combination to me. I broke into the industry with the release of True Skin in 2012.
How did your short film get the attention of Amazon Studios?
Originally, Warner Brothers optioned it in less than a week after it was released on Vimeo and went viral. During the course of development, I felt the project wasn't going the direction it should have. For one, they were setting it in New York City which I felt wasn't going to encapsulate the aesthetic and atmosphere that made True Skin a hit in the first place. Amazon came in when I got the rights back and made an offer. When they said they believed it needed to be filmed in Bangkok, I knew I was with the right studio.
Can you tell us what we can expect from the series adaptation?
It will be a sci-fi thriller in the same noir style as the short film. We will try to interweave Thai culture and the social scene into the story. The hi-so elite modify at their will while the poor are more and more left behind. The series will explore a fictional underworld of the body-mod black market that runs rampant in future Bangkok -- a perfect hub for foreigners to come and find what is regulated back home. We'll look at how body-mods affect future red-light districts and the Buddhist idea of reincarnation. The series will be filmed in Bangkok. I hope it will come out next year.
If you can have your dream cast, who would you pick to play in the series adaptation?
I like the idea of having Josh Hartnett or Tom Hardy as the lead. I also like Thai actors like Vithaya Pansringarm, Sahajak Boonthanakit or Nirut Sirichanya. Rhatha Phongam or Suchada Rojmanothum could play a female lead.
If you could choose, would you stay natural or be enhanced?
I would enhance like there's no tomorrow, of course. I believe it's the inevitable path of our evolution for what we will eventually become. We were never meant to be limited by our bodies, only by our minds. I truly believe we're simply data travelling through an advanced array of organic technology. If we could modify ourselves to better what already exists then why not? If we could get stronger, beat disease and live forever then why not? At first, it will create a rift in our society between those who can afford it and those who can't. There will be conflicts, debates, class systems and other consequences that we can't even begin to imagine. But after all that, I believe things will eventually fall into place. That's where we are heading, we just don't know it yet.
