Ravi Patel is to play a mastermind impersonator in Kiss Of The Con Queen, a true crime thriller from Thai-UK director Tom Waller.
The casting was announced at the American Film Market (AFM), where the project is being sold by Bangkok-based production company, sales agent and distributor De Warrenne Pictures.
The film is inspired by the experiences of Irish actor Eoin O’Brien who was scammed by Hargobind Tahilramani, an Indonesian food blogger who was arrested in December 2020 following an FBI investigation that uncovered hundreds of cases of alleged fraud and identity theft involving unsuspecting victims in the film industry. O’Brien has written the script.
Shooting is set to begin in Bangkok next month before moving to Jakarta and other countries for location filming early next year. It is a co-production between Waller’s De Warrenne Pictures, Japan’s Yaman Films, and Film Bangkok, the relaunched film division of Thailand’s Tero Entertainment. Producers are Waller and Takahiro Yamashita.
The story follows an actor in Bangkok who is told that a powerful female Hollywood studio executive wants him for a leading role in a TV show. He travels to Indonesia for an audition but discovers the scam when asked to hand over money for flights and permits. However, after uniting with other victims, the actor ends up conning the Con Queen into giving him exactly what he wants – the breakthrough role he was falsely promised.
Patel is known as the subject of Meet The Patels, a 2014 documentary he co-directed about his attempts to find an Indian bride, and has acting credits including Transformers, Master Of None and upcoming series’ Animal Control, Three Women and Justified: City Primeval. He is also set to appear opposite Zachary Levi in Sony Pictures’ live-action adaptation of Harold And The Purple Crayon.
Waller has directed features including Thai cave rescue drama The Cave, which premiered at Busan International Film Festival in 2019, and The Last Executioner.
Tahilramani remains in the UK, where he was arrested, awaiting extradition to the US to face charges with verdict on his extradition expected next week.
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