page_title: Bad Genius
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Bad Genius / Production / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Director Nattawut Poonpiriya from a promotional video clip for the Taiwan release of Bad Genius
context_page_description: Bad Genius, known in Thai as Chalard Games Goeng, is a 2017 Thai heist thriller film produced by Jor Kwang Films and distributed by GDH 559. It was directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya, and stars Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying in her feature film debut as Lynn, a straight-A student who devises an exams-cheating scheme which eventually rises to international levels.
  Inspired by real-life news of students cheating on the SAT, the film transplants the heist structure to a school-exams setting, and features themes of class inequality as well as teenage social issues. The young main cast consists of relative newcomers Chanon Santinatornkul, Teeradon Supapunpinyo and Eisaya Hosuwan as Lynn's classmates Bank, Pat and Grace, while Thaneth Warakulnukroh plays Lynn's father. Filming took place on location in Thailand and Australia.
  Bad Genius was released on 3 May 2017, placing first at the Thai box office for two weeks and earning over 100 million baht, the highest-grossing Thai film of 2017. Overseas, it broke Thai film earning records in several Asian countries, including China, where it grossed over $30 million, making it the most internationally successful Thai film ever.
context_section_description: Bad Genius was produced by Jira Maligool and Vanridee Pongsittisak, executives and veteran producers at GDH (previously GTH). Jira came up with the film's premise when he heard on the news that SAT scores were being cancelled in China due to a cheating scandal. The producers then invited Nattawut Poonpiriya to direct the film. Nattawut had previously directed the company's 2012 psychological thriller Countdown, and the producers believed his abilities would lend themselves to developing Bad Genius as a heist film. Nattawut was immediately intrigued, and agreed to direct the project, which was developed under the working title "2B Come Won" (a reference to the 2B pencils used to fill in test choices).
  Nattawut wrote the script together with Tanida Hantaweewatana and Vasudhorn Piyaromna, researching the format details of current standardised tests, as well as actual methods of exam cheating from the news. The script took about ​1 ¹⁄₂ years to complete. The story was developed as a Hollywood-style heist/caper thriller, but the writers made efforts to ground it in a context that would still be relatable to a Thai audience. A major challenge, according to Nattawut, was telling the story of students taking exams—"perhaps the most boring activity on earth"—in a compelling manner. The film's secondary theme, that of the characters' contrasting social backgrounds, emerged during the writing process.
caption: Director Nattawut previously directed GTH's 2012 psycho thriller Countdown.
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