Billkin Talks Thailand’s ‘How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’, Oscar Shortlist & UK Release

deadline.com:

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies clinched a historic spot on the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature Film this week, becoming the first Thai feature to ever make the December list.

Thailand has submitted 24 films for the international Oscar to date, since 1984, but the country has never scored a nomination nor spot on the shortlist, before How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, which is the debut feature of director Pat Boonnitipat.

The film’s top star, musician-actor Billkin, first heard about the achievement via the Thai media on Tuesday. “I’m a bit surprised because it’s the first Thai movie that has this opportunity,” Billkin told Deadline. “At the beginning of this project, I never dreamed that we were going to come this far.” Intergenerational family drama How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies was Billkin’s first leading role in a film, having only made a guest appearance in 2019 film Brother of the Year, although he has starred in several television series, including the two-part coming-of-age series I Told Sunset About You and I Promised You the Moon. “Before this film, I was really desiring a new acting project, because I had been away for a while,” said Billkin. “But I consider projects in a lot of detail, because I have to spend a lot of time on them, and it has to be a project that really drives me in both my mental and physical aspects.

When director Pat invited me to join this and told me about the story and how we’re going to work during the project, it really excited me. “I just felt like I saw a bit of myself in this project, in terms of the character, the background and the message that the film is trying to convey,” said Billkin.