The director (second from right) with the cast of “The Cure”
Ace director Mark Reyes pushes boundaries in his latest project with GMA 7, “The Cure,” starring Jennylyn Mercado and Tom Rodriguez, which premieres tonight. It veers away from the usual drama fare.
The show’s premise is about an experimental drug that kills cancer cells. However, its side effect causes a deeper problem—the mutation of a dangerous and highly contagious virus called the Monkey Virus Disease or MVD, which causes seizures and makes the infected violent.
Soon, law and order become nonexistent as the disease spreads across the country. It is crucial to find the very thing that would save everyone—a cure. Viewers better brace themselves for the series’ riveting plot.
Here’s my chat with Direk Mark:
Tell us about your different approach for “The Cure”? I wanted to approach the series in a more cinematic way, like we did with “Encantadia.” I was allowed to use Canon C300 Mark II digital film cameras for the project, and that has made all the difference. To tell a dynamic story visually, we use a lot of drone cameras and camera rigs.
What challenges you the most about directing it? When we committed to its “zombie-pocalypse” concept, we knew we had to make this series big because there’s a standard set by other US series, Hollywood films and even my last film, “Trip Ubusan: The Lolas vs Zombies.”
So, the degree of difficulty of filming the series was high. There were days when I had close to 200 actors on the set. We constructed a 340-degree laboratory set and created a fully animatronic gorilla suit, which is a first for local TV.
It’s also worth noting that we had a camera drone team that took footage of the empty streets of the metropolis last Holy Week. We needed those aerial shots to approximate what Manila would look like after the epidemic had taken its toll.
How do you motivate and reprimand your actors? I’m lucky that I have an awesome cast. The only actor I need to motivate is our lead child star, Leanne Bautista, so she’d look scared of the “infected” characters in the show.
In terms of reprimanding actors, it’s a case-by-case basis. You’ve never seen Jen and Tom like this in any of their past shows.
What are the changes you’d like to see in the local industry? More out-of-the-box ideas like “The Cure.” Local viewers deserve bolder and more challenging concepts.
Personal experience
My random post on my social media accounts about “Etiquette for Ex-es” elicited mixed reactions. Some even reposted it. It was quite a delight to see that many colleagues of mine in the biz and celebrity friends clicked “like” on my post.
To quote a few lines from it: Although my marriage has long been annulled and my ex-hubby has remarried, he will never be an ex-dad to our daughter and son. Even if he no longer fulfills his fatherhood duties, I will never deprive him of the right to be a dad.
The best gift estranged couples/parents can give their kids is to honor the memory of the love that once brought them together (check out the full post on Instagram: @dollywood922).
There were a few ones who insinuated that I was alluding to a celebrity who is at odds with her ex. That’s quite appalling since I did not pinpoint anyone in my message. I was just sharing my own personal experience as an ex-wife, in case any of my followers are dealing with postmarital blues.
Just because a marriage ended doesn’t mean that it failed, if both parties have become better persons after their journey together.