One To Watch: Why Davika Hoorne Left Her 'Comfort Zone' To Play A Haunted Hoover In ‘A Useful Ghost'
'I've never been a vacuum cleaner before… it's very out of my comfort zone,' says Thai model and actress Davika Hoorne on her role in Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's Cannes Critics' Week title A Useful Ghost. She plays a woman who dies of dust pollution and then returns as a ghost in the form of a vacuum cleaner, determined to save her family from a similar fate.
'I had to get to know the vacuum cleaner, my partner,' says Hoorne, adding she put herself in the hands of the director to pull off the performance. 'His picture was very clear. There was a bit of improv but mostly it was what he wanted.'
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It is not the first time Hoorne—who is one of Thailand's best-known actresses and influencers with strong followings on Instagram and TikTok—has played a ghost. Having forged a successful career as a model, she broke through as an actress in 2013 Thai folklore-inspired horror comedy Pee Mak, playing a woman called Nak, who dies while her husband is away at war but remains in their village to welcome him back. Pee Mak remains Thailand's all-time second highest grossing feature.
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Hoorne's performance won her the epithet of 'Thailand's most beautiful ghost' and she has since starred in a string of mainstream shows and movies, including My Ambulance, Heart Attack, Astrophile and The Empress of Ayodhaya. Lead produced by Cattleya Paosrijareon and Soros Sukhum at Bangkok-based 185 Films, the credits of which also include Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria and Kristen Tan's Pop Aye, A Useful Ghost marks quite a departure for Hoorne.
'I'm incredibly thankful for this opportunity, but I admit it's crazy that I accepted it. It's not something you usually see in Thailand,' she says. 'I normally do stories that are predictable, that make money, but this one is fulfilling my actress energy. The team working on it is incredible and so many people were rooting for it to get made. The first time I read the script, I said yes right away. I felt the movie had the potential to go far, and even if it doesn't, I'm still very proud of this project.'
As well as introducing Hoorne to audiences outside of Asia, traveling to Cannes with A Useful Ghost also fulfils a long-held ambition for the actress, who says she has turned down offers to walk the festival's red carpet as a model in the past. 'A lot of people go there for the fame, for the fashion, but I told myself that I'm not going to walk the red carpet without a movie. I've been waiting for 10 years, and now this is like a dream come true.'
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