Leading content-maker ABS-CBN seems to be obsessed these days with “revenge” as the core of their drama offerings. The company seems to have become fond of stories about people who have been wronged by the greedy rich even as the wronged ones are not exactly virtuous humans themselves. And the main characters are often young, barely out of adolescence.
Set to premiere on 15 September on ABS-CBN’s iWantTFC is Fractured. It topbills the young loveteam of Francine Diaz and Seth Fedelyn, who were last seen in the
remarkably-produced vengeance saga Dirty Linen, also of ABS-CBN.
They are joined by young stars Kaori Oinuma, Daniella Stranner, Ma. Joy Apostol, Jeremy Lisbo, Raven Rigor, Sean Tristan, Jenica Garcia and Vaugn Picson.
The adult actors in the series include Mylene Dizon and transwoman KaladKaren.
The story is about a bunch of very competitive and boastful social media influencers and digital creators who get marooned on an island on their way to their target island destination with no signal for their gadgets. The young, arrogant and competitive content creators and vloggers will have to start cooperating with each other in order to survive their ordeal.
Four years of waiting
Meanwhile, the movie A Very Good Girl had better be worth the four years of waiting for Kathryn Bernardo to do another movie after the critically acclaimed box office hit Hello, Love, Goodbye with the GMA7-borrowed (by Star Cinema) Alden Richards in 2019.
Until May of this year, Bernardo’s acting career had been sustained by TV dramas with actor and real-life boyfriend Daniel Padilla (who is not in A Very Good Girl) and other ABS-CBN projects.
The bonus for moviegoers in the forthcoming Bernardo film is the presence of BAFTA and Golden Globe nominee Dolly de Leon. It’s De Leon’s first-ever lead role in a film after playing support roles for years.
For both Bernardo and De Leon, their respective roles in A Very Good Girl are a reversal of what they were loved for in their most successful movie (it’s Triangle of Sadness for De Leon). They are not lowly menials in A Very Good Girl but wealthy, perfumed, prestigious business persons.
To highlight their glamorous personalities in the film, the press conference for the project had them walk the ramp like fashion models. Bernardo glided in a white backless gown while De Leon sauntered in a shimering black laminate dress with about a quarter of her back showing.
Filthy rich
The press prattle about the film teases that young entrepreneur Philo (Bernardo) shows herself off as idolizing Mother Molly who is described as “filthy rich” — as if punning on De Leon’s role in Triangle of Sadness as a cleaner of filthy toilets!
When Philo experiences a downturn in her business, Mother Molly takes her under her wings. But Philo will soon discover who manipulated her downfall, the trail of evidence leading to the filthy rich woman’s doorsteps. Philo then transforms into an insidious avenger.
Both Bernardo and De Leon believe their film is about empowered women. Empowered to be as deceitful and ruthless as men are typically depicted?
The film’s main scriptwriter is a young woman, Marone Dominique Mancol, who has been with ABS-CBN’s creative department. A cum laude graduate in Communication Arts at Ateneo de Manila University, Mancod is also the scriptwriter of He’s Into Her (2021) and Love You to the Stars and Back (2017).
The film is directed by Petersen Vargas, who also helmed ABS-CBN’s first film shown in theaters after the pandemic, An Inconvenient Love, starring Belle Mariano and Donny Pangilinan and released in November last year.
Vargas is young and good-looking and can be mistaken for an actor. His An Inconvenient Love must have done well at the box office, because he got to direct ABS-CBN’s second movie to be released in theaters,
A Very Good Girl.
Completing the cast of A Very Good Girl are Chie Filomeno, Jake Ejercito, Gillian Vicencio, Kaori Oinuma, Ana Abad Santos, Nour Hooshmand, Donna Cariaga, Althea Ruedas, Nathania Guerrero and Angel Aquino.