Is Viva mounting a JaDine replacement?

There is no shortage of local films this pandemic. Viva Entertainment’s streaming platform, Vivamax, just gave way for the old and the new stars to test their acting limits with all the creative stories and contents the platform has to offer, minus the MTRCB censorship.

We have Sharon Cuneta and Marco Gumabao’s Revirginized, Andrew E’s surprising TikTok viral dance craze, Shoot! Shoot!, which now turned into a film; Janno Gibbs’ 69+1, which tackles a throuple and now this… Ang Manananggal Na Nahahati Ang Puso.

The film stars the in-demand Marco Gallo, who plays a college student named Giuseppe, who goes to a small barrio for his thesis about the mythical Filipino creatures called aswang. There, Giuseppe meets the eccentric barrio girl Giniper, played by Aubrey Caraan. Giniper then takes the opportunity to help Giuseppe with his research. With Giniper’s help, Giuseppe will not just learn about mythical creatures in the barrio, but he will also experience enchanting encounters with different people.

What’s interesting about the film besides the cast and Darryl Yap’s direction is that it was meant originally for Nadine Lustre and James Reid. Now, Aubrey opened up how big of a pressure it was to find it out and take on the project.

“Sinabi naman ni direk Da (Yap). Grabe po iyong pressure na naramdaman ko,” she said. “Iyong kaba at takot na naramdaman ko kasi syempre para sa JaDine ito. Pero andoon iyong saya na isa ako sa napili kasi matagal ko rin hinintay na magkaroon ng lead role sa isang pelikula.” Besides Indak with Nadine and Sam Concepcion, this is Aubrey’s big break from Viva.

For Marco, he said, “Definitely, I was so nervous because the expectations were so high, because it’s for JaDine and the acting skills they already have! For me, I felt like I didn’t have it until I did it. We were so nervous the very first days of shooting in Siquijor, but then, with the help of direk Da and the whole set, they really made us feel like we were capable of it and that’s the best feeling a set can give you that they are not comparing you to other people, you know?

“Just believing in your craft and that was really relieving and hopefully, people will welcome it as well, as much as they welcomed Diary Ng Panget. This is the 10th film of direk Da but one of his first scripts na hindi nagawa agad.”

Marco added that if this project of theirs will fly, Viva has more projects in the pipeline for him and Aubrey. Upon learning this, the Italian-Filipino hunk made a move already to up his chemistry with Aubrey by taking her out solo during their lock-in taping in Siquijor last July.

“I’m really observant kasi and I let other people do the first move even the girls and I like to watch and just see how people are, but she was really shy and I was okay, we cannot be shy,” said he. “I waited until the second day and wala pa rin so I was like, Aubrey! Come here and let’s talk! So. I brought her to the beach and we stayed there for hours and I did not expect to go for that long and she’s really sweet and she was not getting tired of me talking. Well, I hope so! Haha!” Guess we’ll be seeing more of them both.

The pair will be joined by comedians and viral YouTube vloggers Chad Kinis, Lassy Marquez, and MC Calaquian, collectively known as the Beks Batallion, who play the roles of Gudong, Gingging and Gimo respectively; and Teresa Loyzaga as Guinta.

Ang Manananggal Na Nahahati Ang Puso streams online on Vivamax Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Middle East and Europe on Oct. 1. You can also catch Marco in ‘Di Na Muli on TV5 Saturday nights at 8.