Sunny Sunday – Namtarn Happy with Acting Career, 11 Years in the Industry Without Burning Out

Actress Namtarn Pichukkana Vongvarotanasil takes on another challenging role as 'Fang Kham Ghost' in the film 'City Curse,' paired with fresh-faced actor Tee Bunyakiat Vongsa-ajem.

Today she discussed her work on the film, her acting career spanning over a decade, and future goals, while also sharing updates about her wedding after her long-time boyfriend Pai Pattish Pisetchkul—whom she's been dating for 14 years—surprised her with a marriage proposal during the Northern Lights trip in Norway.

On her role in 'City Curse': Nametarn said: "In this story, I play Fang Kham Ghost, a spirit that has existed for over 100 years with no memory of how she died. A human has been taking care of her all this time, and the role has evolved across generations until the current era where the caretaker is a social media kid. He wonders why other ghosts have legends but I don't, so he tries to create pages and Instagram accounts for me to make me legendary. He tries to teach me how to be a scary ghost, but I can't do it. I'm bad at scaring people. So he brings me different horror movies to copy from. My co-stars like Sprite, John, and Ann teach me how different ghosts move and act—how Japanese ghosts crawl, how Thai ghosts dance—and I try to copy them, but no one is ever scared of me."

On finding answers about her character's death: Nametarn explained: "Yes, the character needs to find out why she died. I noticed that everyone has a partner, so why don't I? I believe my destined partner must have a shell-shaped mark on their neck. The male lead happens to have one, so I'm convinced he's the one. Turns out it's a tattoo, not a mark, so I'm disappointed. The story has a lot of cute, romantic comedy elements. Mostly I'm the one pursuing him because I've been around for 100 years, so my jokes might be outdated compared to Gen Z kids—it has that puppy-tricking vibe."

On working with actor Tee Bunyakiat: Nametarn said: "He's very sweet. When I found out I'd be working with him, I looked him up and discovered he's a famous footballer. He's close in age to my younger brother, so we connected easily. He's also from the North like me, so communication was smooth. His character is very heavy—he has the most emotional baggage in the story. He's emotionally complex and has to be depressed throughout most of the film. He has less screen time but delivers a lot. His acting is excellent. I saw his potential from the workshop day itself. He came to ask me for advice on some scenes, especially the comedic parts or difficult film scenes because films are different from series—they use a single camera and need to shoot dramatic scenes multiple times from different angles. He once asked why later takes didn't feel as good as the first one, and I explained that you have to reset yourself each time, which is already difficult."

On how quickly she decided to take the role: Nametarn said: "Not long at all. I've worked with director Kop since the film 'Som Bai.' We've actually been discussing this project for 3-4 years before it came together. When he contacted me, I asked to read the script first because I didn't want to repeat a character. After reading it, I loved it. The character is contemporary and connected to the social media era where ghosts have to create content. It was challenging—could I make people believe she's Fang Kham without looking like Som Bai?"

On whether the shooting locations were scary: Nametarn said: "We actually shot in Phu Chiao forest and in old houses that were decades old. But no one got haunted by ghosts because we shot from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., and by the time we'd go back to sleep, the sun was already rising. Ghosts can't haunt you then. (laughs) But there was something incredible—the male lead's house in the story belonged to an elderly owner who once told her descendants not to demolish or sell the house because someone would come to film a movie there. At the time, no one believed her."