In a recent press conference for Love Destiny The Movie, out in theaters July 28th, the producers and director share their inspiration on how this movie came about. After Buppaesaniwas wrapped up beautifully in 2018, one of the producers for this film didn’t want it to end (same girl same) and it was such a hot topic that quite literally everyone around her couldn’t get enough of it. But ultimately the sentence that inspired the movie came from the author herself (Rompaeng), in that, P’Muen (ML) and Karakade (FL) are the destined soulmates and will meet and love each other in every lifetime. This premise has such potential retelling of another lifetime where they meet as different people and in different time periods, but fall in love again and again. The lifetime in Ayuthaya ends, but the lifetime in Rattanakosin (the setting for the movie) begins.

I am so glad she brought this up, because I recently finished my annual rewatch of Buppaesaniwas- this lakorn is a masterpiece so bite me – and I found the same sentence thought provoking. How many stories and lifetimes can we continue to spin around Khun P’ and Karakade? Infinity and beyond, and that my friends, is why Rompaeng’s novel is so beloved. Her brilliant storytelling is a catalyst for so many imaginations and adaptations, and each one can be refreshing and unique on its own because there is so much to work with. The premise of soulmates and the new lifetime has the director’s wheels spinning and thus the scriptwriting commences, the actors are selected, and the rest is about to be shown in a theater near you – gosh I hope it’s near me too.

Pope and Bella share their perspective on their new characters – Mae Gaysorn and P’Pope (ha!) – Pope indicates that in this lifetime his character is a warm, flirty guy compared to that of P’Muen. He has dreamt of Mae Gaysorn and upon meeting her, believes that she is his soulmate. The producer/director had been chewing on the idea of how fun it would be if one of the soulmates do not remember/believe that the other is their soulmate. HAHAHA. Cue, romantic comedy encounters and bickering. I am so here for it. Let’s just say Pope is made for the silver screen, this will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase his natural acting abilities and crazy charisma on screen (go watch his older movies!). As P’Muen he had us swooning, perhaps as P’Pope, he will have us holding our stomachs from laughing so hard and also swoon at his corny pick up lines. In fact, they reenacted one of the pick up lines during the press conference: “From the first time I met you, every single flower has turned into a love flower.” It’s a play on the word flower – dok mai, which he changed to dok rak, love flower. Even Pope had a few takes before he could say it with a straight face.

Meanwhile, Mae Gaysorn’s character is also very different from Karakade. She’s an educated woman of her time (Rattakosin), and she’s more ladylike than that of Karakade. She does not like P’Pope when she meets him, but instead she likes another man who happens to time travel to their era! So many universes, you can see the people behind this movie had some serious fun putting it together- and that fun shows itself in the world premiere trailer, which aired during the press conference.

It’s lovely to see how a phenomenon and a novel can inspire and motivate another adaptation, these days finding inspiration, or an idea that spurs you to create, is something so novel in and of itself. These days we are all in survival mode, and having a reason to sit back in the cool, dark theater, and find joy in a story makes everything just a little bit better. I cannot wait to meet Mae Gaysorn and P’Pope, and watch them fall in love all over again.