Thai star Peach Pachara deep dives into his new Netflix series The Believers and how he makes his character work as a businessman and an actor
Pachara “Peach” Chirathivat has been a household name in the entertainment scene for the past decade. Growing up in front of the cameras and under the scrutiny of the public eye, Peach has branched out into all the creative walks of life—performing, acting, creating musical scores, and building various entrepreneurial ventures. Always on the lookout for a business opportunity, Peach brought Filipino favorite Potato Corner to Thailand and made it his country’s own. But as a businessman and an actor, how does he toe the balance between the two in Netflix’s The Believers—a project that requires him to tap into those two facets of his life? Peach tells MEGA Man all about it in an exclusive interview.
Taking on the Project
The Believers, which explores questions of faith, money, and societal issues, quickly soared to the top of Thailand’s TV ratings in just one week after its debut. The series tackles the commercialization of religion, particularly Buddhism, which some may find inappropriate or controversial. However, at yesterday’s press conference, Peach, who plays the role of Game, says, “We have to talk about how to make religion more transparent. We have to show them what happens when people exploit faith, when people corrupt the whole system apart. Now, we can start raising the question of how we can make things better.”
The fresh new perspective emerges in The Believers—shifting the focus on profit-driven dynamics within a religious institution. “I got hooked,” Peach admits when asked about taking on the project. “Only a few films or shows about temples get approved to screen in Thailand; it’s really rare. I figured—I should be a part of it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Viewed from a broader perspective, the series offers an engaging social commentary on how religion can exploit the vulnerable. Its examination of the intricacies of faith from a Buddhist perspective sets it apart. While faith is typically a source of comfort and hope, The Believers shows how readily it may be used for one’s own gain, and it does so in a compelling narrative. “You’re supposed to create a kind of tension [between the series and the audience],” Peach says. “That’s the whole point.”
Working as Game
When asked about delving into his character, Game, Peach tells MEGA Man, “The challenging part was toeing the line between portraying him as a jerk but with substance—because that’s who he is,” he states. “That’s what made things really fun. I had to work more towards what’s underneath the layers behind his façade, behind the interpersonal level.”
A Balance of Buisness and Art
With its thought-provoking themes and beloved characters, Netflix’s crime drama’s center point is, as told by other main character Win: “Running any business is risky. It’s about the people you do it with.”
MEGA asks Peach about his take on this, being an entrepreneur himself off-camera. He admits, “I agree, because your decisions mean a lot to those you work with. Not just your employees but suppliers as well—anyone you come across in the business. They rely on your decisions, so that makes everything risky. But business is all about people. You need people to run things with you—it’s the most crucial thing.”
Peach meshes his businessman and his actor side together once again in the series. Going back to his 2011 film The Billionaires, Peach tells MEGA Man, “That one was a biopic about the real businessmen in Thailand. This one is new—doing business through religion, so it’s very different. I needed to adapt because I have my own biases as well. I think that it’s wrong, but for the character I’m playing, it’s not. I needed to work around how I could turn off my businessman side, but not so much that I couldn’t relate to it.”
If there’s anything Peach learned from the series that he could apply in real life, it’s that being calm in decision-making makes or breaks the business. “Everything falls apart because of hot-headed and impulsive decisions,” the actor says. “That’s why things derail.”
For Filipino viewers, whom Peach considers a sister country to his own, he tells MEG Man: “The whole show is about real-life scandals and how we work around it. So you can learn more about our culture on a deeper level, the same way I did with the Philippines when I was taking Potato Corner to Thailand.”
The star also ends the press conference by saying he would love to venture into the Philippine entertainment scene and work with Filipino actors or creatives soon.
The Believers is out now on Netflix with nine episodes.
PHOTOS FROM NETFLIX PHILIPPINES AND BY ALAN SEGUI
HAIR & MUA BY MIZ RAFFY AND GABRIEL VILLEGAS
SPECIAL THANKS TO NICKO FALCIS, GERARD GOTLADERA, AND PIA CAMPOS OF W TALENT MANAGEMENT
