HBO and British Broadcasting Corp call their upcoming miniseries Tsunami a compelling story of courage. But for some Thai survivors of the 2004 disaster, the show will do little more than reopen fresh wounds.
"Why are they doing this? We can't believe it," tour guide Sawitree Kulmat told the Nation newspaper. "It's too early ... What about the people who lost their families?"
Filming in Thailand started last month and features a star-studded cast that includes Oscar-nominated actors Tim Roth, Sophie Okonedo and Toni Collette, HBO said in a statement. Shooting was taking place in Phuket and Khao Lak -- the Thai areas hit hardest by the waves -- and the miniseries is scheduled to run later this year on HBO and BBC2, it said.
The series follows "a group of characters whose lives are irrevocably transformed by the cataclysmic natural disaster," HBO said. Among the characters is a young couple who lost their child, an Englishwoman whose husband and son are missing, an ambitious reporter, a relief worker and a British official.
"Tsunami is a compelling story of survival and courage," HBO Films chief Colin Callendar said in a statement.
"The images of the tragedy have seared our memories and this miniseries follows in the HBO tradition of getting behind the headlines to reveal the human drama of those caught up in events outside their control," the statement said.
HBO and BBC could not be immediately reached to comment on the complaints from Thai residents.
More than 216,000 people were killed when the Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake off Indonesia triggered a tsunami that hit 12 countries.
In Thailand, the giant waves claimed at least 5,395 lives, leaving 2,817 missing and presumed dead. Another 8,457 were injured when the tsunami hit Thailand's southwestern Andaman Sea coast.
Scores of Asian artists have used the disaster to inspire their work, including short films and a Thai comic book. The Thai Culture Ministry organized an exhibit last October in the popular tourist resort of Phuket to help make tsunami art more accessible to the public. About 30 artists showed their sculptures, installations and paintings.
But some survivors said the tsunami miniseries goes too far, noting that many residents near Krabi were most angered by flyers that advertised for extras including Thais willing to play corpses, the Nation said.
"You can't put that up here," Robert Reynolds, a charity director, told the newspaper.
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