Jim Newport
Author, Production Designer, Musician
It’s been twenty years since I wrote The Vampire of Siam. At the time I had no idea it would spawn four sequels.
My career was (and occasionally still is) as an Emmy-nominated motion picture & television Production Designer. I’ve designed over 100 feature films and television series. Heart Like A Wheel, The Piano Lesson, The Stepfather, The Shield, and LOST are a few of my credits. (To see all of the author’s film credits go to: IMDB)
When I started writing – about thirty years ago – it was screenplays that I tried my hand at. I wrote a lot of them. I even made some money. Nothing was ever produced – but that’s the strange thing about screenwriting – things get optioned or bought (you get paid) and then they sit on the shelf.
By the early 90s I had decided I wanted to live in Thailand – Phuket in particular. I had found the perfect little house and I kept my bags there, and whenever I could, I returned. I became known and started to get film work there (Men of War, Brokedown Palace, Bangkok Dangerous, Mechanic Resurrection etc.)
I continued to write scripts and wrote an ecological adventure set in Phuket. When I shopped it in Hollywood, I was told… ”It’s not our genre… Bring us a Vampire script and we’ll talk.” I decided very quickly that my vampire was of French descent, and he came to Southeast Asia on Henri Mouhot’s historic nineteenth century voyage that uncovered the ancient ruins of Angkor. I subconsciously named him Ramonne Delacroix – Ramonne of the Cross.
Assuming the Vampire would be the antagonist of the piece, I invented Martin Larue – devil- may care American playboy who made Bangkok his playground, as the protagonist. Newly divorced in 2001, I explored Bangkok’s sordid dark side – the Eden Club, etc. I decided that a vampire (and Martin) living in Bangkok would be familiar with such places, so I changed the names and added them to the mix.
And soon the Vampire of Siam was born. Not as a script, but as a book. Published first by Asia Books and later by Willat Books in the USA.
The story was so much fun to tell, and the two lead characters so endearing that when it was finished, I found myself in mourning. I had killed Ramonne!
And so I did what every writer of every successful vampire movie (or book) does – I brought Ramonne back to life and happily propelled him and Martin through more adventures.
