Rambo IV: In The Serpent's Eye is gearing up to shoot for several
weeks in Thailand early next year, and Thai Film officials are happy
to tell Hollywood that the Asian nation is open for filming. USA
Today notes Thai Film officials are also proudly trumpeting the
pending arrival of Denzel Washington who is coming to Thailand for a
few days of shooting on American Gangster, in which he'll play a
drug lord.

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Wanasiri Morakul, Director of the Thai Film office says the Rambo
crew will work for several weeks in the country's northern provinces
as John Rambo is brought out of retirement to help find a group of
missionary aid workers who have disappeared in Myanmar. 80% of the
film will be shot in the Thai jungles and in Bangkok, and the movie
will inject somewhere around $5 million into the local economy. The
film office asked the production company to take care with the
violent sequences, fearing the movie could exacerbate friction
between Thailand and neighboring Myanmar, but nothing was forbidden.

Thailand's diplomatic relations with Hollywood stand in need of some
repair: Shooting on the Nicholas Cage thriller Big Hit in Bangkok
was suspended temporarily when the military coup began last month.
Cage reportedly kept a jet ready for a quick getaway from the
Southeast Asian nation if things got too dicey.

Film production is crucial to the Thai economy. Over 372 shoots took
place in Thailand this year, and film production brought the
equivalent of $37 million to the country.