The Beach - from FOX MOVIES

The Beach - On Location

The Beach -- The film-makers for The Beach scouted locations in Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines before finally settling on Thailand. Phi Phi Le island, in southern Thailand, was the main reason. Maya Bay was perfect with its cliffs enclosing it on three sides. Nearby Phuket island was chosen as the main base as it has an international airport and a film studio. Other locations included neighboring Krabi and Khao Yai National Park, north-east of Bangkok. Principal Photography took place in four main locations between January 15th and April 24th 1999.

About the Movie

The wonders of modern technology, like computers, video games, cell phones, pagers and the Internet, were designed to make our lives more enjoyable and facilitate communications. Yet for many, the complexity of the digital world is overwhelming, leading to a feeling of unreality ... of being disconnected.

The desire to find something real - to connect with something or someone - is what drives Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young American backpacker who arrives in Thailand with adventure on his mind. Travel, he asserts, is the search for experience, the quest for something different.

At a cheap hotel in Bangkok, Richard meets a French couple, Etienne (Guillaume Canet) and Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen). He also encounters Daffy (Robert Carlyle), an older traveler ravaged by years of sun and drugs. Rambling and paranoid, Daffy tells Richard the improbable tale of a secret island, a paradise on earth: the perfect beach, unsullied by tourists.

The next day, Richard finds a piece of paper pinned to his door. It is a hand-drawn map of the island described by Daffy. This, Richard realizes, may be the "something different" he has been looking for. He goes to find Daffy only to discover his corpse, the crazed man's wrists slit by his own hand.

Richard persuades Francoise and Etienne to join him and they set off on a journey, following Daffy's map. To get to "the beach" they must risk their lives by swimming across an open sea from one island to another, crawling past armed guards and jumping from the top of a 120-foot waterfall. Reaching their destination, they find a small community of travelers like themselves, living in secret. They are welcomed into the group, and the island paradise becomes their home, sapping them of all will to return to the world they knew before.

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Yet beneath the surface, this heaven on earth is less than perfect. Personal conflict and petty jealousy ferment to create a violent rivalry, and a series of tragic events fragments the community. Increasingly isolated and disturbed, Richard finds himself more than witness to an incident of blood-shed. The dream has become a nightmare; paradise has turned to hell. Now his only goal is to leave. But escape will not be easy, for the beach is a secret place, a secret that some will defend to the death.

Cast

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO (Richard) has achieved the rare combination of critical praise and audience accolades. He was recognized with an Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe® Award for his work in "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape." DiCaprio was voted Best Supporting Actor by the National Board of Review for "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape" and "This Boy’s Life," and was given the New Generation Award for both films by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Additionally, the New York Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics voted him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor of the Year.

DiCaprio also received a Golden Globe® nomination for James Cameron’s "Titanic," Blockbuster nominations for his work in both Baz Luhrmann’s "William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet" and "Titanic," and MTV nominations for "William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet."

DiCaprio’s other film credits include "The Basketball Diaries," "The Quick and the Dead," "Total Eclipse," "The Man in the Iron Mask" and a cameo role in Woody Allen’s "Celebrity."

Text content Copyright © 1999-2000 Fox and its related entities.