Top Pinoy actor Piolo Pascual seems to be doing anything and everything these days to help ensure that his first horror movie, Mallari, an entry to the fast-approaching 2023 Metro Manila Film. Festival, makes it big at the box office.
The actor sang live at the film’s fan con at the SM Mall of Asia about a week ago. He was in a black jacket with red undershirt, black pants, red socks and black shoes. The stunning actor crooned the old tune “Babe, I Love You” and even went down the stage and mingled with the crowd while singing.
A few days after, Pascual led the film’s cast in a motorcade and fan con at SM Lipa mall.
Pascual and Janella Salvador, one of his leading ladies in the film, did solo numbers again, to the delight of their fans.
Mallari has a slew of young stars in its cast, among those who joined Pascual and Salvador were Ron Angeles, Angelie Sanoy, Audrey Alquiroz, Tommy Alejandrino, John Ventura, James Clarence Fajardo and Ali Albata. Some of them also wowed the crowd with their singing. (At MOA, JC Santos also serenaded the fans with OPM ditties.)
Participating in a free-admission fan con event to promote a film is something unheard of for Pascual. He did some movies in the early 2000s with Judy Ann Santos, who has a wider and wilder “masa” fan base, but they never did mall shows to drum up their films. At most, they did guesting and pa-kilig singing in TV networks.
Grand slam
We think what makes Pascual worried about people not watching Mallari in droves is the fact that he hardly looks glamorous in the three characters he portrays in the trilogy. He is aware that people adore him on screen and in person for his stunning looks and wholesomeness.
But it was in fact in his most unglamorous role, as a fearless activist in Dekada ‘70 in 2002, that he won a grand slam for best supporting actor. (The film was topbilled by Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon.)
Pascual is too humble to say he can possibly win Best Actor for his criminal characters in Mallari. The trailers show him mostly in half-darkness, thus depriving viewers a sight of his remarkable handsomeness.
The movie, said to be with a budget of P40 million, is a trilogy, since it has three screenplays set in widely varying decades — from the Hispanic colonial times to the 1940s and the 2000s.
All three episodes are directed by Derrick Cabrido from scripts written by Enrico Santos. The 2023 MMFF entry is not publicized at all as a trilogy, despite the three different characters portrayed by Pascual — although all three are surnamed Mallari.
The most publicized Mallari character in the film is a Pinoy serial killer during the Spanish era in the Philippines who happened to be a priest: Fr. Juan Severino Mallari.
It’s not clear from the press bits for the movie if the two other Mallaris Pascual plays are also criminals.
Benchmark
Pascual’s initial reaction when he was offered Mallari was the same as the one he had for Dekada ‘70: rejection. The actor accepted Dekada ‘70 only on the fourth offer, and Mallari on the second.
The benchmark for quality and commercial success for Pinoy horror movies is Feng Shui (2014) starring Kris Aquino and helmed by Chito Roño, who also directed Dekada ‘70. At the mediacon, Mallari’s producers said they would be happy if critics and fans found Mallari at par with Feng Shui.
There seems to be an assurance of international quality. Warner Bros has picked up the film for distribution here and abroad. If Mallari does very well at the 2023 MMFF box office, Warner Bros. will work for its extended screening. The global company will start pitching Mallari in film markets first in Asia and then the rest of the world.
Mallari is Cabrido’s only second horror movie, the first being Clarita in 2019, starring Jodi Sta. Maria.