Every time we sit down for a conversation with Mr. Aam Anusorn, he never fails to amaze us with his brutal honesty and perseverance. For a man who is constantly at war with deception and values credible filmmaking above all, Aam Anusorn wears many hats. As a screenwriter, he has created veritable stories that depict his nuanced thought process. As a director, he has helmed successful projects (Present Perfect, Present Still Perfect, 2 Moons 2, Call It What You Want, Call It What You Want Season 2) to completion. In today’s exclusive, we talk to Mr. Anusorn about his recent trailblazing romance, Till The World Ends. An exceptional casting coupled with his filmmaking acumen has turned TTWE into a smash hit and we are here to decipher the secret behind this success story!

Transcribed by- Yarnball

Let me introduce myself first. Hi guys, my name is Aam Anusorn Soisa-ngim. I am a filmmaker, director, writer; I wear many roles of filmmaking. I just finished a series called Till The World Ends, which is very, very cool.

1) Congratulations on the success of your BL saga “Till the World Ends”. The reception was unprecedented. Did you expect this kind of response?

Well, I didn’t expect that at the beginning. Before I made Till the World Ends (TTWE), I didn’t think people would give me a lot of good feedback, because when I was making Call it What You Want (CIWYW), I got lots of backlash because people thought I was talking about them. It’s so funny because when CIWYW came out, people were like ‘he’s talking about me’, ‘he’s talking about us’ while I was talking about (my interactions) with a group of people that I have experienced. But I don’t know why many people in this industry tried to raise their voice and assumed I was talking to them – that’s so weird and I feel like that oh my god, that happened in CIWYW, maybe it will happen in every production. I don’t know because people assumed I was talking about them, which I was not. So when I released those two seasons, I got a lot of backlash, a lot of people in the industry did not support me, and I was kind of alone in this industry.

I tried to make TTWE with no expectations in the beginning, because I felt no one will support me. When I finished TTWE, I had more expectations, because I watched the series and I directed the series myself, and I felt that ‘this is very good, this is my masterpiece’, so yeah, it was beyond my expectations because I thought no one’s gonna care about me anymore.

I feel like that every time I raise my opinions, it’s gonna cause a lot of trouble, so I thought no one cares, but yeah, it was so heart-warming and I’m thankful for that.

Present Perfect was based on personal experiences. 2Moons2 was your first attempt at adapting a book and CIWYW was a hardcore rendition of a toxic BL industry. So what is TTWE based on?

So TTWE – This is back to the year 2000. If you remember the year 2000, people said that the world is going to end and there were some movies like Deep Impact or Armageddon, you know? And I believed that the world is going to end for real. I was so scared when I was a kid. I was 10 years old. I believe – yeah I was 11 and I thought the world was going to end. So when I was a kid, I was telling everybody I knew that I loved them. I even told my crush I loved them. And then 2000 came, and the world didn’t end and I felt like ‘f*ck, why didn’t the world end?’ Because I was well prepared, you know? And I realised that time has value. That time is very important. Because I believed that I was going to die and I had only a limited time, that’s why I kept telling everyone that I loved them when I was eleven years old. So I took that lesson to create TTWE, because as you can see, in the past I’ve done a movie, a series from a book, book itself and CIWYW is based on my experience, so I wanted to make something based on my imagination. As a fan of Wes Craven or Kevin Williamson the writer of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” or “Scream”, so I added lots of slasher events into TTWE because I just love slasher movies and also very chaotic stuff and of course romance – because I believe in love, so that’s why I put a romantic side into TTWE, which is kind of cool.

2) There were obvious comparisons between your work and the Pinoy BL “Love at the End of the World”. How did you curb those assumptions?

Um, I don’t really care to begin with, because the comparison is not from me, it’s from the fans. I’m grateful that they compared my work with the Pinoy BL “Love At the End of the World” because that’s one of the series that I look up to. I look up to the director a lot and all the actors. It’s such a cool feeling to be compared to them, but I don’t think my story is related to them; I don’t know, the fans need to compare, not me. I heard the director passed away, which is very tragic, very sad for me because we almost met each other. We had an appointment to meet each other in July when I went to the Philippines, but he passed away; I didn’t have a chance to talk to him, but I suppose he was a good person.

3) The recently concluded Japanese BL “The End of the World with You”, is also based on the same concept. How do you feel about the fact that there is a sudden downpour of dramas with an apocalyptic feel?

Yeah, I was quite surprised by the fact that lots of series are talking about the end of the world around the same time. I didn’t know about this. It’s just so weird because I was created this project before working on 2moons2 and I proposed this project to some companies (I’m not gonna mention the name) and they ignored it. I don’t want to say they’re copying my idea but lots of things happen that are kind of unfair to me and are a kind of weird. It’s just like you pitch your project to some company and they deny but then they release the same thing around the same time, so I really don’t care about comparison anymore.

4) Michael Kittisak seems to be one of your favourite actors. From “Call it What You Want” to “Till the World Ends”, how much has he evolved as an actor?

Michael is one of my best friends. He used to be my best friend, but now he’s my enemy because he’s such a bad person (laughs). I’m joking. He’s a very nice person. We trust each other a lot. I have no worries about working with him. When I tell him he needs to put 100% to, he puts 200%. He’s very active as an actor, and he’s a very good friend of mine. He’s not my favourite actor (laughs), but he can be my favourite in terms of acting. When I wrote the Gus character, I was thinking about him, so that’s why I chose him to play Gus in the series.

5) Let’s talk about the chemistry between the lead pair. For Art Pakpoom, TTWE became his comeback vehicle and for Best Anavil, it was his first major role as a BL actor. How did you develop the romance between them?

I think the story itself really drove this couple. Like people can be easily be into this couple because of the story, and the way they are when they’re together, it feels real for the fans. I’m very glad that the fans felt that way because I don’t do fanservice. I don’t involve in shipping culture because I think that we should get done with all those bullshit things, we should stop fanservice and shipping culture.

So I didn’t actually do anything. Their chemistry is based on the way they act, the way they look at each other. Based on my script, the way they are in the series makes people really believe their chemistry. I’m so grateful for that and they’re both such good actors. I wish they both can get awards somehow. They should get something to be- to prove that they are good actors. And yeah, since people in this industry don’t care about my series, I’m not sure I’m will be able to get awards for my actors, but I wish.

6) Avid fans are invested in your apocalyptic romance, so the question that begs their attention is ‘are we getting a sequel to TTWE?’ If yes, then what kind of storyline can we expect in the second season?

I got a lot of questions about a sequel of TTWE. I have plans. Omg I haven’t said this to anyone. But I’m not sure if I can make it or not. It depends on many things, not only me- it depends on the actor, the production, the investor, especially investors and people who’re going to support us. So yeah, we’ll have to wait and see if TTWE season two will be released or not.

I was telling people before that I wasn’t going to make a sequel for Present Perfect, and somehow I did. So I don’t wanna say anything but I have plans to make season two for sure. I also want to make side stories as well -like the beginning of the side couple of Long and Joke- how they met, why they’re killing people and stuff like that. TTWE season two will be crazy, more chaotic than the first one. It’s gonna talk about fighting, because TTWE talks about fighting for true love, you know, Golf the main character. The second one they will need to try to survive. It’s going to be more intense, more suspenseful. I hope the fans will like it. I don’t know if I can do it or not, so we’ll see.

7) Are you willing to work on book adaptations in the future? If so, what kind of novels do you want to adapt? Do you have a particular book in mind?

I did one with 2moons2, and then I found that every book is the same (laughs). I almost directed Secret Admirer, and I changed a lot of it at the time, but the writer was very upset about this, so I’m glad to be out of that project. I am, of course, willing to make a series or movie that adapts from a book. What kind? Um, I don’t know, maybe I want to go back to the basics, like university theme, like engineering and stuff like that with 2moons2, because it doesn’t include a lot of creativity, it’s easy. But I want to try something related to the horror trope- like ghost stuff. I’m not quite sure how it’s going to end up like a BL, but yeah, I want to make BL ghost story or horror story. That would be really cool, so let’s see.

8) Most of your works are succinct depictions of the struggles faced by the LGBTQ, but TTWE solely focuses on developing the budding romance between the main couple. Why the sudden detour from your usual stance?

Present Perfect is based on my life, CIWYW is based on my experiences, and 2Moons2 is based on a book. TTWE is something like beyond- my imaginations 100% and that I was dreaming what I wanted society to be like. So yeah, TTWE is mostly my imagination of a world that I want to live in. We don’t have to categorise my series as a BL. I don’t give a shit about gender. You put gender to separate movies; it’s kind of weird. So yeah, in TTWE you can see a lot of elements that I was mentioning like politics, mental health, religion, HIV. I want to make these normal things for people because when in my country, when we talk about politics or religion, people panic. I don’t know why, because talking about these things is so normal in civilised countries and countries that accept democracy. TTWE is not just about love between a couple, it’s about love in a family, love for your neighbour- every character in TTWE is not bad or not good, it depends on you to decide the standard of every character.

9) We have a lot of BL fans and members of the LGBTQ community as our avid readers. Do you have a message to share with them?

I want to say that art has no gender; movies and tv series are art, so don’t obsess about gender that much, try to feel that its normal thing. It’s ok if you’re a guy and you love a guy, or a woman who loves a woman, or a lesbian who falls in love with a man. Love is a feeling, so don’t make gender to be the standard. Be yourself, love whoever you want to love, enjoy, and don’t obsess too much. When I got nominated in the LGBTQ category, I felt nothing. But when I was able to win the “Best Film Award”, I feel like yes, finally they didn’t consider gender to separate my films. I want to be normal, I want my series to be normal- not like this is LGBTQ, this is BL. It’s just the same as romantic, drama, sci-fi. I think if we shouldn’t obsess over gender that much, we can create a normal society for LGBTQ people.

I have a message for my fans in the Philippines, because I want them to know I love them so much. When most actors say ‘I love the fans’ – they just say they love the fans, but I really, really do love the fans. Especially BL fans in the Philippines. I went to the Philippines once, and I met the fans. They were so supportive and I’m so grateful to have them in my life.

Please keep supporting me and please do share TTWE with the world, I believe that if you guys are able to watch it, you guys will love this series as much as I do. Thank you, have a good day.

The BL Xpress would like to thank Mr. Aam Anusorn for this opportunity!