#soonvijarn

In honor of the two year anniversary of the legendary rooftop scene, here’s the soonvijarn reaction for anyone who hasn’t seen it or wants to watch it again (I love how P’Aof acts like a conductor of an orchestra 😭❣️❣️❣️). You can watch their full reaction here:

i mean of course i and you and everybody teared up when we watched it but i just did NOT expect the frigging director who had shot the scene (and who had probably seen the edits and the cuts multiple times) to do that.

throughout that part i wasn't looking at anybody else on that screen not even patpran cos here was the guy who brought them together on the screen who was behind the scenes who made this all possible viewing his show from the point of view of a passive audience member and feeling moved for his own characters and perhaps seeing his own queer self there too (idk if he has spoken about why he teared up or we know more about this from somewhere else) but with no other context this legit made me (as a queer person who writes queer stories) tear up and i had to pause and take a second to appreciate just how much this show is doing for queer people even outside the show.

it's all just a lot for my tiny fragile heart. i love bad buddy so much yall its made such a special place in my mind i could cry.

ahhh look at his eyes all welling up with tears arghhh I CANNOT

soonvijarn is a youtube channel where gmmtv director P'Aof and his friends react to their series. currently, they're reacting to P'Jojo's series Never Let Me Go, and they invited Pond and Phuwin as guests during their viewing of episode 6. after the episode, they talked to Pond and Phuwin about the process of getting into their characters and how they've grown since filming their first series, Fish Upon the Sky. you can watch the whole video here.

I've written the transcript of the "interview" portion below the cut, with minor edits for clarity and grammatical purposes. note that this transcript is based on the english subs provided by soonvijarn and is, as always with translations, subject to error.

What have you guys learned from your characters?

Pond: In the first five episodes, Palm had to bear something. But in the first episode, when he was at sea, a fisherman, he was like this [the way he is in episode 6]. When his father ordered him to come to Bangkok, he became a calm, silent man. While performing, I felt uncomfortable feelings, feelings I’ve never had before in real life. This character will be with me for a while. I returned home and became a person who rarely smiled. But lately, I’ve been able to manage my  feelings.

Phuwin: For me it affects a lot - my whole life, my mental system, and my emotions too. My previous characters didn’t have an effect like this. But with this character, I saw clearly that I became more sensitive. The character Nueng is sensitive and quite responsive to everything around him. For example, if someone does something, he will keep thinking to himself about it. I noticed that during the past months I’m more sensitive. I’m a person who doesn’t cry for anything and am not sensitive to little things. After a month in this role, I suddenly cried while watching a movie, even though I had never done that before. It has a lot of impact. Because my personality has changed. I have become more sensitive. 

Working together for a second full-length series, what was it like growing up? And what do you want to talk about?

Pond: It’s peace of mind. The series Fish Upon the Sky and Never Let Me Go are about a year and a half apart. Coming back to the series together, we hardly had to tune in. Workshops are not required. [Jojo objects.] We have workshops, but they’re required because the character is difficult. Just have to tune in to the character at first. But once it’s done, it’s smooth. The romantic scenes we played together, Jo appreciated that they were good. Drama scenes can be difficult. But when [the characters] are at sea, everything flows. With our sweet scenes, Jo likes to say, “Why with this scene you can do it with just one take?” Why? We are familiar with each other. But if it’s a dramatic scene we have to sort out the emotions and rehearse. It’s our comfort zone. We get used to each other because we often live together. We know how to play and how to act. 

How have you seen each other change the most?

Phuwin: His willingness to work and concentrate on work. He’s usually very determined; he will always crash into his goal. But for this series, he concentrated a lot on it and was very calm. For example, if it was in the past, the scene filmed with Jo [a deleted cameo scene], there’s no way he could film it. But now, he was able to keep himself still and focused. He can concentrate on ten minutes of scenes and scripts, which makes the expression look very good. 

Pond: He grew up a lot and saw many changes in various fields. For this series, he was very determined too, because he didn’t just do this series. He has movies and studies and exams. I never heard the word 'tired' from his mouth. I asked him if he was tired, and he replied that it was “something [he] had to take responsibility for and do.” We have a concert together and come to film the series and then he had an exam; he didn’t rest at all. He had to wake up at six in the morning several weeks in a row. But if I don’t ask [if he's tired], he won’t say. 

P’Jack (Pond and Phuwin’s manager) wants to add a few words:

Pond and Phuwin were the first BL acting couple that I took care of, and I wanted to take care of them. After actually working together, what I really like is that they put a lot of effort into their work. And they support each other. I think it’s important that BL actor couples help each other. For this couple, they always help each other in doing things. They look into each other’s eyes and help each other go all the way to every task they do. It made me love them even more.

I work with them on events, series, concerts. The concert is an event that shows that they work very hard. Pond loves to dance very much, and Phuwin loves music. But it requires rehearsals, and there’s filming for series. Phuwin has exams too. I know that I put a very heavy schedule for him. I told him, ‘If it were me, I’d cry. It wouldn’t work.’ But we talked about putting together a schedule like this from the beginning. He fought to do it, and he never complained.

This, for example, is them reacting/recapping the GMMTV 2023 QL trailers and it's such a joy to see them talk about the shows, the actors/actresses, and the little bts details. Some of the things they say makes me even more excited for the series...if that's at all possible.

Soonvijarn are a group of friends who either work in the Thai TV/film industry (Aof and Jojo are directors of many series you know and love) or nearby (e.g. one is a management agent to some of the actor/actresses, one is a singer/songwriter, etc...). They have a wonderful rapport with each other and banter about the ql series, themselves, and each other.

I got to know them during Bad Buddy, when they would react and then recap each episode (the videos have approx. 200,000 views each - the ones with Ohm and Nanon guesting have two and four times that respectfully), and I think the first one they did was A Tale of a 1000 Stars. After a long break, they are back with react and recaps of Never Let Me Go (as brought to my attention by @jemmo), and I highly recommend you watch them alongside the series (they'll eventually get english subs, we just have to be patient!).

about korn and wai:

about pran and pat not talking (it was actually 20 minutes):

during the montage, p'frame leaning in behind p'aof and asking him "do you like this"

"poison?" "no!" (about the liquor pran sent to ming)

conflict resolution through song

even p'jo wants what patpran have