“It took us ni Direk Mac Alejandre two years to prepare for Panday 2,” says Bong. “Right after Panday 1 became topgrosser and best picture in the 2009 filmfest, inihanda na namin itong sequel as we want it to be bigger and more spectacular than the first one. At yun nga ang nangyari, since we started shooting it early this year pa, so we had more time para pagandahin ito ng husto. This is the entry with the biggest budget kasi sa special effects pa lang na ginawa sa abroad, malaki na talaga ang gastos. Pero okay lang, we want to do everything to make sure we’ll please our viewers.”
His movie with Vic Sotto was the filmfest blockbuster last year. Now, Vic teams up with Ai Ai de las Alas. Isn’t he afraid of this? “I’m confident Panday 2 will stand on its own. I’m just happy na maraming magandang entries this year at sana, kumita lahat, so that producers will be inspired to do more local movies. For ‘Panday 2’ we even shot on location at the Palawan Underground River. I want to help show the beauty of our country and, hopefully, makatulong din ito so more people would vote for it as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World at maging worldwide tourist attraction ito na karangalan ng ating buong bansa.”
