So did he have a happy ending with the object of his affection? “Obviously, no. Kasi I’m still single up to now. ‘Elise’ played by Janine Gutierrez is the dream girl, the ideal girl of Enchong here. Feeling niya, he’d die if he couldn’t get her. I wrote the script four years ago and since then, I’ve moved on, matured a lot and became a better person.”
Joel (his full name is John Elbert) took up multimedia arts at St. Benilde but he later on transferred to Asia Pacific Film Institute to study filmmaking. He worked in a call center for a while before directing his first short film in 2011, “Pastime”, He then did “Hello World”, a full length film entry in the QCinema Filmfest in 2013 and “Baka Siguro Yata” which is an entry in Cinema One Originals in 2015. In 2017, Regal got him to direct his first mainstream movie, “Woke Up Like This”, a body switch comedy with Vhong Navarro and Lovi Poe that did well at the tills. So now, he’s given to direct his second project with them, “Elise”.
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| director joel ferrer (extreme left) with cast of ELISE |
How is it working with his lead actors in “Elise”? “They’re both great actors who made my work easier. When we were casting the film with Ms. Roselle (Monteverde) and Direk Joey (Reyes), we came up with many names but Janine and Enchong, stood out and turned out to be the best choices. Sila talaga yung characters I had in mind. We’re all very satisfied with their performances and with the way the movie has turned out. Malakas ang kilig factor. Ibang-iba ito sa usual romcoms, especially the ending, but I’m sure the viewers will enjoy it.”
