PAULO AVELINO is elated to have an entry in the coming Metro-Manila Filmfest, “Fan Girl”, written and directed by Antoinette Jadaone, produced by Black Ship and Dan Villegas’ film company, Project 8 cor. San Juan, with Globe Studios, to be shown streaming on Upstream.ph.
The film is experimental as Paulo plays himself but only a fictionalized version as its ultimate portrayal of him is not very flattering. This is because it shows the bad side of a popular actor who tries to exploit his fan who is so obsessed with him and stalks him.
After doing a mall show, Paulo is not aware that the fan secretly stows away in his car and he is surprised to see her inside his mansion.
The teenage girl is at first thrilled to be up close and personal with her idol, but later sees the darker side of this fictitious Paulo, who is so different from the matinee idol she has learned to admire and even worship.
It’s a daring role for Paulo, not only because the role might give him negative feedback, but he goes beyond his comfort zone and even does frontal nudity in a scene where he is shown peeing and his fan takes his picture.
The movie has been shown in international film festivals in Tokyo and Estonia and got rave reviews, even from the Hollywood Reporter. We just don’t know it this scene would be shown uncut in its local release.
Paulo is grateful that he made the right decision in making the movie. “It’s always nice when your work and your movie are appreciated by those who’ve seen it, specially by audiences abroad,” he says. “I’m positive local viewers will also enjoy watching it as an entry in the MMFF.”
Even the newcomer who plays his fan, Charlie Dizon, got the nod of foreign critics, who say she played her role with “great naturalness”.
Antoinette Jadaone, who’s noted for romantic films like “That Thing Called Tadhana” and “Never”, says the film is four years in the making. She offered the role to other actors but only Paulo is brave enough to accept its forbidding and formidable challenges.
On TV, Paulo is also getting good feedback for his performance in the Kapamilya series, “Walang Hanggang Pag-ibig”. He’s also busy working behind the camera as the co-producer of “Aswang”, one of the two stories in the iWant horror series, “Sitsit”.
“I feel grateful for all the blessings and opportunities that come my way despite these challenging times of the pandemic we live in,” he says. “I feel optimistic not only for myself but for the whole country, that things will surely improve and get better for all of us in the coming new year 2021.”
