Skin Trade (film)

Skin Trade

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music by Jacob Groth
Cinematography Ben Nott
Edited by Victor Du Bois
Production
company
SC Films
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures[1]
Release dates
  • April 23, 2015
Running time
 95 minutes[1]
Country
  • Canada
  • Thailand
Language English
Budget $9,000,000[2]
Box office $79,286[1]

Skin Trade is a 2015 Thai-Canadian action-thriller film directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham. It was written by Dolph Lundgren, Gabriel Dowrick, and Steven Elder; John Hyams performed uncredited script revisions. It stars Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa as cops who try to take down a human trafficking ring in Bangkok. The film premiered on Video-on-Demand on April 23, 2015, and will be followed by a limited-theatrical release on May 8, 2015.[3]

The movie marks Dolph Lundgren's second collaboration with Michael Jai White (who starred as a soldier in 1992's Universal Soldier) and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (who starred 1991's Showdown in Little Tokyo as Yakuza boss Funekei Yoshida), respectively.

Plot

A Vietnamese girl leaves her village for Bangkok. After arriving, she is kidnapped, drugged and sold into the skin trade.

In Newark, New Jersey, detective Nick Cassidy captures a criminal named Dex. Cassidy learns Serbian mobster Viktor Dragovic is in town. Meanwhile, in Asia, undercover detective Tony Vitayakul has his cover blown while attempting to buy a Vietnamese girl from a group of human traffickers. Tony kills the men in a shootout and frees the girl.

During a briefing, Captain Costello explains that Dragovic runs a large-scale human trafficking operation. Dragovic's sons Goran and Ivan run their father's operations in the Middle-East and South-East Asia, respectively. As one of Dragovic's ships approaches America, Cassidy and the department prepare to intercept it.

Dragovic arrives at the New Jersey docks. When the trafficked women die of suffocation, Dragovic holds the ship's captain accountable and kills him. As the police move in to arrest Dragovic, a shootout ensues. Cassidy chases Dragovic and his son Andre as they flee. He shoots Andre in self-defense and arrests Dragovic. While Dragovic is in custody, Ivan and Goran blow up Cassidy's home in an attempt to avenge their brother's death, killing Cassidy's wife Rosa and daughter Sofia. Cassidy is shot in the back and left for dead, but he survives.

Costello and FBI agent Reed visit Cassidy in the hospital. They tell him about his family and that Dragovic has fled the country after being bailed. After Costello and Reed leave, Cassidy staggers out of the hospital unnoticed. After gathering a few weapons, he travels to the restaurant of Dragovic's attorney. While there, he kills a few of Dragovic's men and forces Dragovic's attorney to reveal Dragovic is hiding in Cambodia. Cassidy kills Dragovic's attorney and blows up the restaurant.

In Cambodia, Senator Khat visits Dragovic at his hideout. He tells Dragovic that due to political pressure from the United States, Dragovic will have to leave the country immediately or face being arrested. Dragovic blackmails Senator Khat into giving him two weeks to flee to Laos and splits his operations between Goran and Ivan.

Cassidy lands in Thailand in pursuit of Dragovic, where Reed, Tony, and his partner Nung attempt to arrest him. Reed, who has been bought by Dragovic, kills Nung and frames Cassidy. Tony pursues Cassidy through the streets, but Cassidy escapes.

Cassidy travels to a nightclub in Poipet, where after torturing one of Dragovic's men, he discovers the location of one of Dragovic's operations. Tony and Reed arrive at the nightclub and attempt to kill Cassidy. After a physical confrontation with Tony, an equally injured Cassidy escapes. Reed arrives at the scene, where he steals Tony's cell phone and uses it to uncover an informant, Tony's girlfriend Min.

Attempting to sabotage Dragovic's operations, Cassidy finds a group of kidnapped girls. A shootout ensues between Cassidy and Dragovic's men. Before leaving, Ivan and Goran shoot their half-brother Janko on behalf of their father. Tony arrives and attempts to kill Cassidy, but after Cassidy tells him the truth about his partner's death, Tony fights (and eventually kills) Reed. Before dying, Janko reveals his father's exact location to Cassidy.

The next day, Cassidy and Tony travel to Dragovic's compound. Whilst there, Cassidy learns that his daughter Sofia was not killed but placed into the human trafficking trade instead. As Ivan tries to kill Min, Tony shoots him in the head. Cassidy then destroys a vehicle with a rocket-launcher, and as a result, Dragovic’s helicopter leaves without him. During a shootout between Cassidy and Dragovic's men, Goran is killed in a fight with Tony. After the shootout, Cassidy has a fight with Dragovic and stabs him in the chest. Cassidy unsuccessfully attempts to retrieve the whereabouts of his daughter from the dying Dragovic.

In the aftermath, Cassidy says goodbye to Tony and Min. Before leaving, Cassidy gives them both a picture of Sofia and tells them to hold on to it until he's found his daughter. He then sets out in pursuit of Sofia.

Cast

Production

Development

Lundgren began working on the script in 2007; after reading news about a van “full of girls” being smuggled into the United States from Mexico. The van was left by the smugglers along the border, and all thirty of the girls inside eventually died from heat stroke and suffocation. [5] The final script was written by Lundgren and Steven Elder; then polished by Gabriel Dowrick,[6] and John Hyams who did script revisions.[7]

Casting

In 2010, Lundgren told The Hollywood Reporter that he was finishing writing Skin Trade and hoped to direct the film. His original plan was to play a supporting role, with a more famous actor in the lead.[8][9]

Lundgren and Jaa on the movie set in Thailand.[10]

In 2013, Lundgren announced Tony Jaa as costar and Ekachai Uekrongtham as the director.[11] When Jaa was initially cast in the film, he did not speak any English. Since being cast in Skin Trade, Jaa has taken "intensive" English lessons, and has said that he is now "reasonably fluent" in conversational English.[12]

Filming

Production began in Bangkok in February 2014[4] and ended in May 2014.[13] According to Lundgren, the film was shot over a period of fifty days (forty-three of which were spent filming in Bangkok, and another four of which were spent filming in Vancouver).[10] Tony Jaa said during an interview that ninety-percent of the film was shot "on location in Thailand".[12] Skin Trade is also the first film to be shot in English by an organization based in Asia (outside of Hong Kong) for an international theatrical release.[12]

Release

Press conference of Skin Trade.

An early poster was released in 2013,[14] and a teaser was released in March 2014.[15] Hyde Park International presented the film for sales at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[13] Box Office Mojo lists the release date as May 8, 2015.[1]

The film debuted in United Arab Emirates on April 9. For its debut weekend, the movie came in seventh place for a total of $79,286 from 19 screens (wavering $4,173 per screen).[1]

Reception

Upon makings its debut at the Gold Coast Film Festival, the film was described as being "One of 2015’s action high points".[16]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Skin Trade". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  2. ↑ "Skin Trade", The Numbers. Retrieved on February 17, 2015
  3. ↑ Keahon, Jena. "Exclusive: Magnet Releasing Acquires Action Thriller 'Skin Trade'", February 20, 2015. Retrieved on March 17, 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Tartaglione, Nancy (2014-02-03). "Global Showbiz Briefs: Revenge Thriller 'Skin Trade' Sets Cast; BBC Films Options Novel ‘That Part Was True’". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  5. ↑ (April 8, 2014) “Dolph Lundgren ‘Skin Trade’ Interview". Retrieved on February 17, 2015.
  6. ↑ "More on Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa’s Ass-Kicking Team-Up Skin Trade". BeyondHollywood.com. 2014-02-06. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  7. ↑ Brown, Todd (2013-06-18). "Dolph Lundgren Confirms Tony Jaa Aboard For SKIN TRADE". Twitch Film. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  8. ↑ ‘’Rugaard, Jason’’ (March 16, 2011) “Interview: Dolph Lundgren". Retrieved on February 18, 2015.
  9. ↑ Kit, Borys (2010-08-16). "'Expendables' star a Fulbright scholar?". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Paul, Alex (April 14, 2014) "Dolph Lundgren Interview", The Action Elite. Retrieved on February 17, 2015.
  11. ↑ Brown, Brown (2013-06-21). "Dolph Lundgren Taps BEAUTIFUL BOXER Director For SKIN TRADE". Twitch Film. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 ‘’Friel, Eoin’’ (March 19, 2014) “Tony Jaa Interview", ‘’The Action Elite’’. Retrieved on February 18, 2015.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Kay, Jeremy (2014-05-07). "HPI brings Skin Trade to Cannes". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  14. ↑ Rigney, Todd (2013-09-16). "Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa’s Skin Trade Gets an Early Poster". BeyondHollywood.com. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  15. ↑ Brown, Todd (2014-03-26). "Tony Jaa And Dolph Lundgren Trade Blows In First SKIN TRADE Teaser". Twitch Film. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  16. ↑ http://www.manlymovie.net/2015/04/review-skin-trade-2015-gold-coast-film-festival.html

External links