That meant finding the right stars for the project and Kongkiat immediately thought of Ananda and Krisada. However, because both actors are of mixed parentage - Krisada is Thai-American and Ananda is Lao-Australian - much work was needed in instructing them in the background to the story and the context of the cop's supernatural powers.
"I always believed I could take them right into the characters. Once when you see them in the film, you will forget they are Ananda and Krisada," says the director.
He also adopted different approaches to working with each actor. As Kongkiat and Ananda shared similar notions of movies they had watched, Kongkiat chose to refer the actor to characters in these other films. "For example, I told him that that I wanted him to work with Krisada like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in "Heat" but to make it like Batman is fighting with the Joker," he says.
He took another approach with Krisada, Having worked with the actor on "Antapal", Kongkiat was aware that Krisada needed a deep understanding of the character's own story to allow him to create the character's personality.
Portraying Al-hawi was however more complicated. The robber, says the director, suffered greatly as a child and this affected his sanity. His madness escalated when he became obsessed by black magic. The director explained to the actor the meanings of the criminal's tattoos and how his mind was manipulated by the magic.
"It's been so much fun working with them and seeing how they portray the characters," he says.
And even though some of the magic involves becoming bulletproof, the director insists that "Khun Pan" is not a fantasy film.
"I call it a 'magical realist' story as the supernatural power in this film is believable," he says.
And with the studio wanting to create a local action hero, filmgoers can expect to see the crime buster returning to the screen for another of his real life missions.