At the media launch of The Ghosting, stars Khalil Ramos and Andrea Brillantes were asked if they are being paired in the movie as a love team. The two immediately answered that they are playing non-romantic roles but their characters will have numerous encounters in the story, which the audience should watch out for.
“It’s a horror film. Though the title is now commonly used on social media for people who were left hanging by someone they used to love, and not necessarily by a ghost, the story is really horror. And my character here is way older than the character that Andrea portrays, so there’s no chance of any romantic angle,” Khalil explained.
The mystery-horror movie from Reality Entertainment is about the Solante urban legend of a little girl carrying a headless doll who asks passersby to help her get home, which happens to be a mysterious red house visible only to her and her unassuming victims.
In the movie, Ken (Khalil) knew that Grace (Andrea) met the little girl but dismisses it as coincidence. The red house doesn’t exist, the curse is not real. Ken believes the girl and the house have something to do with weird deaths in the neighborhood, including Grace’s eventual disappearance, but no one else believes him.
“In the story, I play the role of a man living in an isolated community. He investigates the disappearance of his friend and suspects an urban legend has something to do with it,” narrated Khalil who finds the character challenging.
“When I do a scene, I want to look raw or organically afraid, like, I’m really afraid. To be effective, I try to be scared but subconsciously, I know that I’m just dealing with an actor. So, what I found more effective is to think of horrors in real life. I thought of real stuff that makes me scared and I thought of those in my scenes,” he shared.
Meanwhile, Andrea, who said that she doesn’t get scared at all even if she’s experienced a few unexplained “ghost encounters” in the past, tries to internalize as well.
“It’s not easy for me because I don’t easily get scared in person. So, I had to think of really scary stuff to make my acting believable,” the teen actress said.
The Ghosting is also the debut of one of Reality Entertainment’s promising directors, Joey de Guzman. Catch it in cinemas starting Aug. 28.
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Ambition drives IdeaFirst to create world-class films
The IdeaFirst Company founders Perci Intalan and Jun Robles Lana are uncompromising when it comes to producing films. Hence, they feel invigorated by the fact that their movies are created not for a specific purpose, yet, they make waves in somehow unexpected ways.
Take Ang Babaeng Allergic sa WiFi, a sweet, romantic comedy produced by Cignal Entertainment, October Train Films, and The IdeaFirst Company, for example.
The film which Lana directed follows the story of Norma, a popular girl in high school who ends up being diagnosed with Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Disorder (EHS).
Unable to use or be around any gadget, Norma is sent to a remote location without any mobile signal to help her recuperate from the rare condition. Unfortunately, the long-distance, as well as the lack of communication with her boyfriend, puts a strain on their relationship.“When we conceived the project, we thought that it’s a kind of story that resonates with the audience globally. It’s a story that you can relocate to any country. The characters don’t have to be Filipino and it will still work and be as entertaining as the Filipino version,” Lana told Manila Standard in an interview.
Ang Babaeng Allergic sa WiFi, which stars Sue Ramirez, Jameson Blake, and Markus Paterson, is streaming on Netflix beginning today. And the film being acquired by the streaming giant is a testament that validated the producers’ idea of what a universal movie should be when they conceived the project.
“The story is universal and timely. Around the world, people are dependent on technology. The story wanted to tackle the question, what if we removed technology in our lives and go back to the traditional way, would we still find love?” shared Intalan.
Apart from Ang Babeng Allergic sa WiFi (translated as The Girl Allergic To WiFi), IdeaFirst has been preparing for something big this year. They have a few projects in the offing.
“We are quite ambitious when it comes to our projects. You have to be ambitious if you want to be competitive,” Robles asserted, “That’s the reason why we are doing this big-budget film, a retelling of Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The script is written by Lourd De Veyra. It’s already done, we are in the revision stage. But people are asking why we’re doing an expensive film this day. We simply say, we are quite ambitious because we believe in the project, it’s a passion project.”
