Abuse is rampant in today’s society. Although social media is a tool for disseminating information and raising awareness, not everyone knows the truth and what happens behind closed doors. Vivamax’s The Influencer sheds some light on that.
Written by Quinn Carillo, the movie revolves around how some influencers are different in real life from their online persona, how they sometimes abuse their fame, and the dangers of having obsessive fans.
It also marks Louie Ignacio’s first film in Vivamax. In creating the movie, Ignacio did his fair share of research on scandals and controversies involving abusive influencers to make his depiction more accurate and somehow disturbing. More importantly, he wanted to show that violence knows no gender and anyone could be a victim.
“Maraming abusadong lalaki kaya marami ding babae ang kayang gawin yung ginagawa ng lalaki. So ako kasi, fair yung laban. Dapat lahat ng tao equal,” Ignacio said.
He added that he doesn’t use sex and nudity for the sake of exposing skin or boosting views. Instead, he uses them to show how intense the scene is. Sure enough, towards the end of The Influencer, viewers are left holding their breath as the plot twists and thickens.
The Influencer stars Sean de Guzman as Yexel Santos, the main character who’s a famous social media influencer with a notorious reputation among girls and a secret he finds embarrassing. While out with his friends, he meets Nina, played by Cloe Barretto, and finds her attractive. Little did Yexel know that Nina also had a secret that would jeopardize his life.
Sean had several steamy scenes throughout the movie, but there’s a particularly controversial one. Sean shared that he trusted the director and his judgment when doing the part. It’s a good thing then that Ignacio values the safety of his actors and doesn’t ask them to do anything without good reason.
As the director, Ignacio also films the sexy scenes on a closed set, with only him, the actors, and the cinematographer present to ensure that the sequences go as planned.
On the other hand, Cloe had another memorable time playing an unbalanced character, as she did in another Vivamax original film, Tahan. She sees her representations as an avenue to raise awareness of people who suffer from mental instability and encourage them or their community to seek professional assistance when needed.
Like in Tahan, Cloe also had the opportunity to work with veteran artists. In The Influencer, she shared a few intense scenes with Elizabeth Oropesa and Ruby Ruiz. The sexy actress also learned a thing or two from the pair in acting.
She and Sean gave a thrilling performance in The Influencer as they tackled themes of violence and inequality. However, they share a different relationship off-screen since they see each other as siblings who grew up under the same management.
Their closeness allowed them to give their all during the scenes, no matter how intense it was.
The Influencer premiered on Vivamax on August 1.
