Back in 2003, I was on a location scouting mission in Thailand for an HBO project about Alexander the Great called Fire from Heaven.
One of the biggest challenges was finding a dramatic high river vista — somewhere vast, cinematic and epic enough for the world of Alexander the Great.
This was before the days of easy internet research and Google Images, so location scouting overseas could be a very different process. I spent hours in Bangkok bookshops, flicking through every photography and travel book I could find, looking for landscapes that might fit the brief.
Then I spotted something.
Finding Pha Taem National Park
In a small Bangkok bookshop, I noticed a tiny photograph tucked away in the corner of the back page of a book about Ubon Ratchathani province.
The photograph showed a remarkable view from Pha Taem National Park — a sweeping panorama across the Mekong River and the landscape beyond.
I asked my local producer, Piya Pestonji from Santa Films:
“Have you scouted Ubon Ratchathani before?”
He hadn’t.
So I said:
“Let’s go tomorrow.”
We caught the first flight to Ubon Ratchathani early the following morning and drove straight to Pha Taem National Park.
When I saw the view in person — the cliffs towering above the Mekong, jungle stretching into the distance and the river winding endlessly through the landscape — I knew I’d found something special.
I took as many scout photographs as I could.
From an HBO Scout to Oliver Stone’s Alexander
Unfortunately, Fire from Heaven was eventually shelved and the HBO project was never made.
I thought that might be the end of the story.
A few months later, producer Iain Smith called me about scouting for Oliver Stone’s Alexander. I was already committed to another production and couldn’t take the job.
Then Piya contacted me from Thailand with some incredible news.
He had shown Oliver Stone my original scout photograph of Pha Taem.
Oliver’s response was simple:
“This is where we’re shooting.”
And they did.
Pha Taem in Alexander
The location went on to appear in Oliver Stone’s Alexander, starring Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer.
Seeing the finished scene alongside my original scout photograph was one of those moments that perfectly sums up location scouting.
A tiny photograph, almost overlooked on the back page of a book in Bangkok, had led me across Thailand to Pha Taem National Park — and ultimately helped provide the backdrop for a major Hollywood epic.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes the best location discoveries come from the most unexpected places.
No database. No Google Images. Just hours spent searching through books, a tiny photograph and the instinct to get on a plane the following morning.
That’s location scouting.
Here is my original location scout photograph from Pha Taem National Park alongside the finished scene from Alexander.
