PNS — MANY people believed Judy Ann Santos took a big risk in agreeing to co-produce “Ploning” but she wouldn’t want to say it’s a risk or a gamble to produce “Ploning” which was shot in Cuyo, Palawan, with good friend of 17 years, Dante Nico Garcia, directing the movie.
“I don’t want to call it a risk because at the onset, the planning stage of this movie, I already believed in the project. I told Ga (Direk Dante’s nickname), we don’t stand to lose anything whether the movie makes money or not. What is important is that we were able to do what we wanted,” she says.
“Being a co-producer, I would want my co-producers to earn money because they believed in the project and they trusted us. There is also pressure on us as the producers but I explained to them that I agreed to do this project because I believe in my friend. I trust my friend and at the same time, I want to present a different Juday to the public, someone that they haven’t seen for the longest time.”
Her past projects during the last years were either horror or comedy. “Ploning” is a different film and it makes for a fitting birthday offering for Juday who is turning 30 this month. Does she have any apprehensions that “Ploning” might alienate her fans? The movie is very quiet yet Juday gives a very heartfelt performance in a movie that is non formulaic in nature.
“If I say that I feel old at 30, my fans are even elder than me. I believe they would understand that I’d like to do a different kind of movie. Something malalim, tahimik pero may puso,. Yung nararamdaman mo kung ano ang nilalalaman ng puso ng bawat artista. Walang nagsasapawan. And once you’ve seen the movie, you still would want to think about the film. We’re happy because we were able to achieve what we wanted.”
She hopes the public would troop to the theaters to watch “Ploning.” Juday hopes that the favorable feedback she got the press people after the invitational premiere last Friday night would translate to a positive result at the box-office.
“Coming from the press people who gave a very good reaction, it’s very overwhelming. Hindi naman simpleng tao lamang ang mga nanonood kundi mga press people who’d get into the nitty-gritty details of the film and dissect it well.”
“Ploning” is now showing at your favorite theatres. It has been graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board.