Tilda Swinton is in Bangkok to promote her latest film, Memoria, which was written, directed, and co-produced by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where it was also awarded the Jury Prize. In the run-up to the premiere of the film in Thailand, we’re excited to have Tilda Swinton fly here to help promote her movie alongside the renowned Thai director.
However, between press conferences and work dinners, we hope Tilda Swinton will get a chance to check out Bangkok, too. As we always like to do when a big Hollywood star comes to visit, we decided to come up with an itinerary to suit.
Contrary to Russell Crowe, an itinerary for Tilda Swinton in Bangkok came with its challenges, given that a lot of Tilda’s movies are of the horror, fantasy, or psychothriller persuasion. Nevertheless, we conjured up some ideas, and if you’re a Tilda Swinton fan (and how could you not be), perhaps you’d like to follow along, too. Here are our tips.
[Hero and Featured Image Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]
First things first, Tilda should visit Bangkok’s spin on the Grand Budapest Hotel and go gallery-hopping
We’re going to replace Budapest with Bangkok here, and suggest Tilda visit the Grand Dame of Bangkok, the Mandarin Oriental. As the movie’s central plot line deals with a priceless painting, we suggest Tilda stay in the Charoenkrung area, and check out the art galleries at Warehouse 30, ATT19, and River City. Intriguingly, at the moment of writing, renowned hotel designer Bill Bensley has an exhibition at the latter. Worlds collide.
While in Charoenkrung, Tilda could check out some historic magazines and ancient recipes
It’s not quite The French Dispatch, but Central: The Original Store houses many historic magazines from the 1950s, which we think Tilda would really enjoy. Then, she could head upstairs to dine at Aksorn by Chef David Thompson, whose dishes here are inspired by ancient Thai family recipes and cooking books. They’re Ancient Ones, but they’re really good, and show how (doctor) strange and wonderful things can come about from the past. After her meal, a further down from Aksorn, Tilda could take a ‘gram at The Hidden Milk Bar, and maybe send it to Wes Anderson, because it certainly has something like out of his movies.
Optional: Tilda, maybe get a tattoo?
It’s not quite named after Okja, but Black Pig Tattoo is a famous and beloved tattoo parlour in Tha Thien, run by Thai/Japanese/American tattoo artist and painter Luke Satoru. Located on the riverside, after getting some ink, Tilda could take a boat across to admire the beautiful Wat Arun temple. Known as the “Temple of Dawn,” it is one of the most famous temples in the City of Angels. Tilda may be familiar with this, because lest we forget, she was a kind of angel in Constantine.
For drinks, it’s time to head to our own kind of Narnia
We don’t quite want to send Tilda Swinton, a renowned world star, to go hang out with the lions while she visits Bangkok. However, if she is curious about the worlds behind a secret door, we suggest she check out some of the city’s speakeasies. Take Find The Locker Room, for example, which is located behind a wall of lockers, or Philtration which sits behind an underground bookshelf. Whichever one she goes for, we promise a stirring world of cocktails.
Of course, Tilda Swinton can’t miss out on the most famous dessert shop in Thailand
At After You, she could order something that sounds like Vanilla Sky, but has no link to the movie, because that would be terrifying. Whilst perhaps We (don’t) Need To Talk About Kevin, we do need to talk about the amazing kakigori here. Maybe Tilda will eat this and exclaim, “I Am Love.” To this we will say, “That’s okay, Tilda, we think you meant to say “I’m in love.””
And if Tilda Swinton decides to leave Bangkok for the weekend…
She should definitely head to The Beach, as Maya Bay has officially re-opened again. It would be a crime not to. Just steer clear of The Deep End, Tilda, and we hope you make the best Memoria of your stay.