THEY MUST surely be among the most popular couples in the Netflix universe right now and Drew Barrymore and her on-screen husband Timothy Olyphant were certainly all smiles as they dropped into Bangkok last week for the premiere of the horror-comedy “Santa Clarita Diet” prior to this Thursday’s launch of the second season.

The stars appeared to genuinely enjoy chatting with fans and the press and were obviously amused by the advertising blitz that saw poster and screens at every traffic junction showing fingers and ears floating in Thailand’s favourite tom yum goong soup.

In “Santa Clarita Diet”, Joel (Olyphant) and Sheila (Barrymore) Hammond are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the Los Angeles suburb with their teenage daughter Abby (Liv Hewson). Until the day that Sheila wakes up feeling a little, well, undead. Despite her hunger for human flesh and a more adventurous life, she tries to carry on and appear normal to the outside world.

Season 2 finds the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila’s now-advanced undead state. The family continues to investigate what happen to Sheila and whether her condition can be cured. Sheila finds it increasingly difficult to suppress her fleshy appetite and bold new attitude, and Joel remains determined to keep his family together at all costs. Abby and Eric (Skyler Gisondo) explore new relationships and dip into environment activism, though most of their time is spent cleaning up her parents’ messes. Unfortunately, while the family has become markedly better at murder, the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it’s no longer going unnoticed.

The two stars told us a little more about the upcoming season. Excerpts:

SEASON ONE HAS BEEN GROUND BREAKING |IN MANY WAYS. WHAT’S HAPPENING |IN SEASON TWO?

Olyphant: The second season is better than season one. The two characters realise that this is the way it’s going to be and do their best to try to save the marriage and the world.

Barrymore: The second season is bigger and better with higher stakes. It is a pleasure to go to work everyday and talk about things that are normal and things that absolutely not normal in any way.

THE SHOW COMBINES SOCIAL REALITIES WITH A STORY THAT IS PURE FANTASY. WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS WRITTEN THIS WAY?

Barrymore: I like the show because the writers want it to be about a good marriage and the sacrifices the family have to make it work. It could be a metaphor for anybody. I don’t want to watch a dysfunctional couple arguing the whole time. There’s a wonderful balance between the craziness and the blood and the family. The type of love, the sweetness that the family members have for one another, is a great antidote to the blood and the killing.

IN THE SHOW WE SEE YOU EATING A LOT OF FLESH; WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY EAT ON SET?

Barrymore: It could be a dehydrated apple or weird rubber that they make sweet, or sometimes it’s fermented rice or wet cake. It’s lots of things and all of them taste disgusting! I get surprises every day and there is nothing I taste on the show I’ve tried that make me want to go back for more. The wet cake, which was supposed to be raw chicken legs, was the tastiest! So I pretend I’m crunching on a pizza.

IN THE FIRST SEASON, YOU PLAYED A REALLY SUPPORTIVE HUSBAND. WILL THERE BE ANY CHANGES IN THE NEW SEASON?

Olyphant: It’s getting harder to be supportive, but he’s doing the best he can.

THE SHOW AND NETFLIX ARE GETTING REALLY POPULAR IN ASIA. HOW DOES THIS NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES FEEL TO YOU?

Barrymore: I’ve never done television in my life so I had no idea what it would be like. Everyday I have a new script. I wonder what I would do if I didn’t like the script. What if you get stuck? I’m terrified of that.

Olyphant: Just tell them to change it. You are Drew Barrymore.

Barrymore: Yeah, but fixing the problems is a long job and doing that every week is no fun. It’s exhausting. You’re acting 17, 18 hours a day, learning 12 pages of dialogue. I’ve been in the business for 20 years. It’s really hard.

WAS IT A TOUGH DECISION TO SWITCH FROM FILM TO TV?

Barrymore: I trust Victor Fresco who wrote and created the show and he promised he would be there every day. These days I love reading the scripts every week and I can’t wait to act them out. At the read-throughs with the executives, the writers and the other actors, it’s like doing mini-theatre. It’s a whole new world for me. I took the gamble and I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

Olyphant: It’s a great job. I’ve spent my whole life trying to get out of read-throughs. But the scripts are great, so the read-throughs for this are solid.

DO YOUR CHILDREN GO TO THE SET |WITH YOU?

Barrymore: I had to lie to my children several times. On some nights I would miss parts of the blood and every single time my kids would be like ‘Mum, what’s that?’ and I was like … ‘Paint! We were, um, painting at work today’.

DO YOU THINK THE FAMILY SITUATION IS A METAPHOR FOR TODAY’S RELATIONSHIPS?

Olyphant: That’s the essence of the show, the fact that you are in a long-term relationship and want people in that relationship to make changes. It’s disruptive to the relationship. The key to making the relationship work is showing that you are willing to accommodate that person’s dream and sacrifice your needs. Joel is making some big sacrifices, helping his wife kill people but it’s also a team effort. This season starts to address how Sheila tries to make sacrifices as well.

YOU HAVE SAID THAT ‘ON SET NO MATTER HOW MUCH BLOOD YOU PUT ON DREW BARRYMORE, SHE IS STILL ADORABLE’. CAN YOU ELABORATE?

Olyphant: I don’t know how she does it. But there is something in her that’s sweet

and vulnerable and this, and her willingness come across when the camera rolls – it’s who she is as a person. It’s a gift. I really think the joke about putting the blood on her and she’s still adorable is because Drew is essential to the show.

Barrymore: First, thank you and second, that describes how I want my character to come across. That said, it wouldn’t work if a man weren’t kind of pulling it all together. I think you need to know that there is a fundamental good guy.

Olyphant: Yeah, because I’m, awesome. (laughs)

Barrymore: With Victor and Tim, I know I’m giving the character the perfect tone. There’s tenderness in there, and just good comedy, good writing that’s not overtly taboo and plenty of interesting stuff.

A LOT OF PEOPLE LOVE THE POSTER. |HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?

Barrymore: It’s great! We did that in Europe and America last year and it was so strong. Netflix really has confidence. They’re not afraid and that resonates. In Bangkok it features tom yum goong. It’s my favourite, that spicy Thai soup with lemongrass and coconut. Clearly, it’s not talking about Tom, who just got eaten.

MUNCH ON THIS

– “Santa Clarita Diet” starts streaming on Thursday.

– Find out more at http://www.Netflix.com/santaclaritadiet.

The first package, Enjoy Extra Movies, is for movie lovers who want a more affordable price. It has several HD channels with top movies, such as Fox Action Movies, True Film HD2 and Warner TV.

The second package is called Enjoy Extra Kids for young children. The package consists of three Disney channels: Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD, which are the world’s most popular TV channels for kids, and where children can learn English with their favorite cartoon characters, including Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh.

At just Bt199 per month per package and subscribers can get one package for free by subscribing to either of these two packages. Moreover, owners of TrueMove H customer can buy a package at just Bt150 per month.

The hosts and other celebrities attended the launch, among them Patcharasri “Kalamare” Benjamas and chefs, Ngamphrom “Hong” Thaimee, Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn, and Thanintorn “Noom” Chantharawan; Paowalee Pornpimol, Pusin “Tao” Warinruk and Neck Naruphol; Willy McIntosh, Punyawee “Por” Sukkulworasate, Samaporn “Pook” Rangsikunphiphat, and Aphisara “Dao” Kertchoochuen.

“It challenges me,” said Rungtham Pumseenil, the founder of Memiti, producer of game and quiz shows and reality television in Thailand.

“Channel 3 has a massive viewer base so choosing programmes that will draw them in can be quite difficult.

“‘Songkhram Plai Jawak’ is a reality cooking competition. Each chef teams will make their own versions of common foods such as phad kraphao or phad thai’ It starts airing this Sunday (March 25).”

“Samoraphoom Ching Pleng”, which kicks off on June 24, will see the contestants go up against Paowalee, Tao Pusin and Neck Naruphol.

“Hollywood Game Night 2018” will be a kind of home party led by Willy McIntosh. For this season, it will recruit Channel 3’s stars. It will be on air on August 13.”

The trade publication Variety and CBS News said the Academy immediately opened an investigation after receiving three harassment claims against John Bailey on Wednesday.

In response, the Academy issued a statement saying that it “treats any complaints confidentially to protect all parties.”

The group’s membership committee “reviews all complaints brought against Academy members according to our Standards of Conduct process, and after completing reviews, reports to the Board of Governors.”

It added: “We will not comment further on such matters until the full review is completed.”

In December, the Academy adopted a code of conduct for its members.

Bailey, 75, a cinematographer whose credits include “Groundhog Day” and “The Big Chill,” was elected to a four-year term as head of the Academy in August.

He followed Cheryl Boone Isaacs, an African-American woman who had led the charge to increase racial diversity in the Academy. Her tenure included dealing with the social media-driven #OscarsSoWhite campaign and accusations of racism within the Academy.

Bailey’s brief tenure has been marked by the birth of the #MeToo movement started by actress Alyssa Milano and which went global, highlighting accusations of sexual abuse.

Harvey Weinstein, whose studio Miramax was behind hits such as “Shakespeare In Love” and “Pulp Fiction,” was expelled from the Academy in October following accusations of sexual harassment and abuse by dozens of women.

At a February lunch for this year’s Oscar nominees, Bailey promised the Academy would adopt a “greater awareness and responsibility in balancing gender, race, ethnicity, and religion.”

“The fossilized bedrock of many of Hollywood’s worst abuses are being jackhammered into oblivion,” he said.

Bangkok gets a new movie theatre tomorrow with the opening of Cinema Oasis on Sukhumvit Soi 43. The brainchild of artists Manit Srivanichphoom and Samarnrat “Ing K” Kanchanawanit, the new venue will screen both mainstream and independent films but will also be committed to helping  filmmakers.

Indeed, it is showing that commitment by painting a picture of Thailand through an opening series of six films on the theme “Beyond Pad Thai”. Among them are Uruphong Raksadad “Sawan Baan Na” (“Agrarian Utopia”) about a farmer’s life in the north, Ing’s own “Ponlamuang Juling”, which focuses on a teacher killed in the violence of the Deep South, and “Muallaf” (“The Convert”), which zooms in on the relationship between a Buddhist and a Muslim.

Oasis is easy to spot from the entrance to Soi 43. Located on the right, it boasts lattice-work reminiscent of Middle-Eastern architecture. The cinema seats 48 with room for one wheelchair and despite being on the second level, is easily accessed by a ramp and a lift. A gallery takes up the third floor while Manit and Ing’s separate working areas are on the upper levels.

“We built this place because we don’t have a venue to show our movies and we don’t want other filmmakers to suffer the same fate,” says Ing, whose controversial themes have seen most of her work not making it to the screen. Her debut “Khon Graab Mha” (“My Teacher Eats Biscuits”) was banned by the censors. Her documentary “Phonlamuang Juling” (“Citizen Juling”) about the death of a teacher from Chiang Rai in the deep south was turned down by cinema owners. The latest, “Shakespeare Tong Tai” (“Shakespeare Must Die”), saw the couple forced to appeal to the Supreme Court after the Administrative Court refused to lift the ban. And their documentary “Censor Tong Tai” (“Censor Must Die”) about their fight to bring “Shakespeare” to the screen is still unreleased.

The ban on “Shakespeare” was the last straw and sparked their decision to build their own cinema. It joins other non-mainstream venues such as Bangkok Screening Room, Warehouse 30 and the Friese-Greene Club on Sukhumvit Soi 22 and the couple feels there is room for more.

“There are no longer boundaries to watching movies. They can be screened in hotels, in a warehouse and, thanks to streaming, even in the bedroom,” says Manit.

“Cinema Oasis is different,” adds Ing. “We want it to be a space for filmmakers to show their work. We also want to reach out ordinary people, which is why we are not just focusing on art or independent films. We want to see people living in this area – the food vendors, the expat housemaids – having a chance to watch films too.”

Independent filmmakers have long found it difficult to get their work screened. Their power to negotiate is limited and the multiplex inevitably comes out on top. The fees are high, with the filmmaker forced to pay the Virtual Print Fee (VPF), promotion costs and more, and the profit sharing is heavily biased towards the theatre owner.

All of this can top Bt100,000 and even if they find the money, they are at the mercy of the cinema when its comes to where and when it will be screened – usually at a time of day when few people are free to watch a movie.

“Here they can submit their work and it will be considered by our committee following normal procedure of cinema’s operation. We offer a 50-50 profit sharing and our earnings will go the Foundation Cinema Oasis. We are open to everyone and we don’t even have to like the film being screened,” Ing says.

The land on which the cinema is located is owned by Ing and her siblings. She says it was bought by her great grandmother Nueng Singhaseni for just Bt2 per square wah prior to World War II. Today, surrounded by high-rise luxury condominiums and a short walk from The EmQuartier, it’s worth more than Bt2-million per square wah. Ing and her siblings inherited both the land and the houses from their parents and Ing chose to demolish her house to make way for Cinema Oasis, spending more than Bt40 million on the new building. The fully equipped theatre comes with a 2K digital projector showing movies on a 5-metre screen and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround-sound.

Always dressed in simple clothes, Ing certainly doesn’t give the impression of being rich. “I live a frugal lifestyle and I ride a bicycle and because of that I had enough money from my inheritance to create this place,” she says.

The whole building is in the name of Foundation Cinema Oasis and the theatre will double as a multi-purpose space for seminars and shows. The gallery on the third level will also be used for a variety of activities.

“One reason we made it a foundation is because we want to show that we are not doing this for ourselves. It’s not we want to do, it’s what we have to do. We don’t blame other people for our problems,” says Manit.

“We already have filmmakers contacting us and want to show their film here. And if the committee feels that even parts of the film interesting and entertaining, they will be shown as part of a series,” adds Ing.

The film programming will work along the same lines as a curated art gallery.

“We are well aware that some films will appeal to people and not to others so we are not setting limits on programming,” Manit says, adding that they are also open to thesis works and hosting panel discussions with filmmakers and the thesis writers.

“If we can make it, it will create a new dimension on how movies are watched.”

Even though success in business is not a priority, they are hoping to survive. The situation, Ing says, is not very different from when Manit opened his Kathmandu Gallery.

“When he hesitated, I told him ‘build it and they will come’. And it is just like I said, it is successful. We’ve discovered new talents along the way and we hope the same will happen here at Cinema Oasis.”

Right now, Manit is planning to hold a themed series of movies three times a year and will look for other films to fill the gaps.

The opening “Beyond Phad Thai” series also features “Paa” (“The Forest”), “Thudongkawat” (“Wandering”), and the first Thai indie film “Tongpan”. All have been shown in multiplexes but on limited release.

Three of the six films, all with English subtitles, will be shown daily and alternate until Songkran. The directors of all the films will be at Cinema Oasis for a Q & A session after the first screening of each film tomorrow and on Sunday.

On March 24, there will be an opening party for “Eden”, an exhibition of sculpture and photography by Piyatat Hematat at the gallery starting at 6. All are welcome and tickets cost Bt160 for adults and Bt100 for students.

The cinema and gallery are open from Wednesday to Sunday.

Set against the sunny, sanguine backdrop of suburbia, Sheila’s energetic undead rebirth forces the family (including their teen daughter,) to make some decidedly dubious moral reasoning for the ghastly fate they deliver to the human victims who satiate her cravings.

Before watching the start of season 2 on March 23, here are some fun facts to give you an appetite.

>> Creator Victor Fresco, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, selected Santa Clarita as the location for the series because he liked the aspect of the carefully planned and organised community contrasting with the chaos happening to the show’s characters.

>> The actual things Drew Barrymore had to eat on screen for “Santa Clarita Diet” were almost as gross as what viewers see on the show.

“It was always different stuff,” Drew said in a recent interview.  “Sometimes it was like a wet cake to be a fake piece of chicken. Sometimes, it was like a soup that had gone bad to portray vomit, that had actually curdled.”

3.Barrymore does not eat meat! The human remains Drew Barrymore’s eats during the series were made out of various nonmeat items, including gummy bears, dehydrated apples, beet paste, pasta and moistened cake. These were because, in real life, she is a vegetarian.

4.Sheila does spread the virus. Although she’s not certain if she bit a bad guy, he does become a zombie like her! Yet, Sheila says she was never bitten to become a zombie and when she bites Joel later, he doesn’t become infected. Unfortunately, Loki being a zombie doesn’t prove how the virus is transmitted, but his character does prove that you can successfully kill zombies in Santa Clarita Diet the way zombies are traditionally killed — by stabbing them in the head.

Producers admitted Tuesday that Matt Smith, Prince Philip on the hit Netflix drama, negotiated a better deal than Claire Foy because of his perceived higher profile.

They did not reveal either salary — Foy’s was put at $40,000 an episode by Variety last year — but told a panel event in Jerusalem that Smith’s 2010-2013 starring role on the BBC’s “Doctor Who” had been the decisive factor.

The explanation has not appeased critics who argued that the discrepancy should only have shown up in the first season, before Foy was garlanded with awards and acclaim.

Foy, 33, was already making a name for herself in British costume drama, with roles in “Upstairs Downstairs” and “Wolf Hall,” when she was tapped to play the queen.

The part has earned her a host of award season nominations, including at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Emmys and Screen Actors Guild awards. She has won two SAGs and a Globe.

Suzanne Mackie, one of the show’s producers, told the Jerusalem audience the discrepancy was being resolved for the third season but that will not benefit Foy.

“The Crown,” which costs $7 million an episode to produce, is replacing its leads for the start of filming in July, with Olivia Colman stepping in as the queen and an actor to replace Smith not yet announced.

Helena Bonham-Carter will replace Vanessa Kirby as Elizabeth’s sister, the late Princess Margaret.

The series comes from the pen of Peter Morgan, who first lifted the veil on the private world of Elizabeth II in “The Queen” (2006), which was directed by Stephen Frears and earned Helen Mirren an Oscar in the title role.

The Marvel superhero movie took $40.8 million, industry monitor Exhibitor Relations reported, bumping it up to a domestic total of $561.7 million in its four-week run, making it the seventh-biggest domestic release ever.

The film’s opening in China — the world’s second biggest market behind the US — pushed its global total past the $1 billion mark that only 32 other movies have reached.

“Black Panther,” starring Chadwick Boseman as the titular king of the African utopia Wakanda, is the first movie since “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to top the domestic box offices for four consecutive weekends.

“A Wrinkle in Time,” a fantasy adventure that celebrates inclusion and accepting personal flaws, took in $33.1 million in its opening weekend — a letdown for a big-budget Disney film.

The story about a search through time and space for a missing father starring Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine has garnered mixed reviews.

Director Ava DuVernay became the first black woman to helm a movie with a budget in excess of $100 million.

In third place was new horror sequel “The Strangers: Prey at Night,” from Aviron studios, which took in $10.4 million.

The poorly reviewed movie — Variety says it serves up “the same old meat-puppet gore and cattle-prod scares” — stars Christina Hendricks and Martin Henderson as a couple whose family is attacked by three masked men.

Next was Fox espionage thriller “Red Sparrow,” with Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian ballerina-turned-elite spy.

The movie, which took $8.5 million in its second week, co-stars Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons and Charlotte Rampling.

In fifth spot was Warner Bros. comedy thriller “Game Night” with $7.9 million. The movie, starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, tells the story of six friends who get together around beers and stumble into a dangerous reality game.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Peter Rabbit” ($6.8 million)

“Death Wish” ($6.6 million)

“Annihilation” ($3.3 million)

“The Hurricane Heist” ($3 million)

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” ($2.7 million)

Barrymore and Olyphant are flying in from Manila for a pre-screening of the popular series next Tuesday (March 13) at Paragon Cineplex.

That will be followed by the “Santa Clarita Diet 2” press conference on March 14 where members of the press in the Asia Pacific can find out all they want to know about the new season.

“Santa Clarita Diet” focuses on Joel (Olyphant) and Sheila (Barrymore), husband-and wife-realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenage daughter Abby (Liv Hewson) when Sheila goes through a dramatic change and develops a liking for human flesh.

Santa Clarita Diet season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.