VIVA FILMS has assembled five talented young actors for the new comedy, “Working Boys 2: Choose Your Papa”: Wilbert Ross, Nikko Natividad, Vitto Marquez, Andrew Muhlach and Mikoy Morales, opening in theaters nationwide on March 29.
The film is directed by Paolo O’Hara in his first stream movie after directing the indie film “The Babysitters”.
Direk O’Hara says it’s Boss Vic del Rosario of Viva who suggested that they do a Part 2 of the original “Working Boys” comedy made by Tito, Vic & Joey in 1986, with the material updated for today’s young generation of Millennial and Gen Z viewers.
“In the story, the five boys are all jobless bums, so they put up an app called Choose Your Papa,” he says.
“They offer various services to customers like Papaluto for those who want food cooked for them, Papalaba for those who need to do their laundry, Papasama for those who need some company, and other Papa services.”
Wilbert plays Biboy, the bimbo in their group who is paired with Angela Morena. Mikoy is McCoy, the one who overthinks and is paired with Lea Jane. Vitto Marquez is Roy, who is always “lutang” or spaced out and paired with Angelic Guzman.
Nikko is Nikki, the joker who’s paired with Franki Russell. Andrew Muhlach is Max, the happy go lucky guy paired with comedian Divine Aucina. We ask Direk O’Hara how he cast the actors in the movie.
“We conducted an audition and they all joined. After we have chosen them, I watched their previous works kasi it’s important na makita what each has to offer para sa dynamics ng group.
"Then we mix and match the actors to see which role ang babagayang gampanan ng bawat isa sa kanila.”
Wilbert, Nikko and Vitto already know each other as they all used to belong to the all-male dance group, Hashtags.
Andrew has also worked with them as they all belong to Viva. It’s only Mikoy who is a newcomer as he is with the Kapuso network.
“We then gave them a one-day workshop para mag-bonding sila and it worked kasi nag-jell agad sila,” says Direk O’Hara.
“Nakatulong, kasi when we shot the film in a locked in location, maganda na ang camaraderie nila. Masaya kami sa set.
"Panay ang kulitan nila, kahit walang kamera, kaya the movie is really very entertaining.”
Direk O’Hara stresses that this movie is not a sequel to the original “Working Boys” of Tito, Vic and Joey.
“This is a totally new material. To begin with, tatlo sila in the first movie and now, and there are five of them dito sa ‘Working Boys 2’.
"In fairness to the five actors, they all deliver and no one gave us a headache or problem on the set while we’re shooting it.”
But at the presscon, Nikko Natividad says he got mad when he felt his co-actors making “api” to him.
“Panay ang parinig nila sa’kin pagdating ko sa set,” he says. “Ako kasi ang pinakahuling idinagdag sa aming lima dahil kakapirma ko lang ng contract sa Viva.
"Bakit daw may driver pa ako pagdating sa lock in shooting? Pa-star daw ako, pa-VIP.
"I felt inaasar nila ako so lumaban ako. Sabi ko, kasi ang bababa ng followers nila. E, ako may 2.8 million followers sa IG ko.
"Nagsumbong ako sa handler ko sa Viva. Yun pala, pina-prank lang nila ako.
"E, umabot sa isang oras yung pambu-bully nila sa akin at ang gagaling nilang umarte kaya sa imagination ko, sinusuntok ko na sila, tinataob ko yung mesa nila.
"So niyakap nila ako, pero hindi pa rin ako kumikibo, hanggang nag-sink in sa’kin na maikli pala ang pasensiya ko, so binati ko na rin sila.”
After that, their entire shoot wen well. We’ll write more about these guys in our next column. Don’t miss “Working Boys 2: Choose Your Papa” when it opens in theaters nationwide on March 29.
