'Beach' Hits Home

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/16/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Speaking of Leo, his movie, "The Beach," which was a wash-out on American shores, got a mixed reaction in Thailand, where it was filmed. About 600 people attended Tuesday night's Bangkok charity preview of the film, which won over the audience for its glimpses of an idyllic island, but ultimately lost the crowd with its grim finale, reports the Associated Press. Thai environmental activists are urging all citizens to boycott the film, having claimed since production began that the moviemakers destroyed a pristine beach to make it look better on screen. (At a recent demonstration, a protester wearing a Leo mask faked a ritual suicide.) Not that the outcry mattered to everyone. Piyoros Sirithasana, 20, a DiCaprio fan, was happy Leo looked good in the movie -- as did her native land. "It just showed a bad image of drug-taking and killings by Thais," Sirithasana told AP. "But the scenery of Thailand looked beautiful in the film."