‘Buy Bust’ movie costs a total of $1.6-M, says director Erik Matti

(from left) Brandon Vera, Director Erik Matti, Anne Curtis for “Buy Bust”. Image courtesy of Viva Films

Viva Films’ upcoming full-length action film “Buy Bust” top-billed by award-winning actress Anne Curtis wasn’t only prepared for in terms of production quality, but it was also given a staggering $1.6 million budget so that the vision of the film would truly be realized.

“It’s quite expensive and not a lot of them know about it, I don’t know if I can divulge. Ang bait-bait nga ng Viva sa’kin eh kasi we started with hindi naman ganon na budget, but of course gusto namin maganda; lagi kaming meeting, ‘o over ka na ah, over budget na ‘yan ah.’ (Viva has been very kind to me because we didn’t start with that budget but of course we want something really great; we would have meetings where we were told we were over budget already.) We ended up with around $1.6 million,” film director Erik Matti revealed at the media launch of “Buy Bust” last Tuesday.

Converted to the Philippine Peso, the cost would be over P80 million.

Unlike most movies that are done within a few months, “Buy Bust” took two years to finish. The cast also explained that work for the movie started during the latter part of the former administration; hence, it was in no way depicting the drug war by the current government.

Members of the cast, especially the female lead, underwent rigorous physical training months before they started filming, which added to the length of time the movie took to finish.

Curtis trained for Pekiti Tirsia Kali, which is the only Filipino Martial Arts recognized by the Philippine Army, Marines, PNP, PSG, and other special forces units.

“Buy Bust” is set for nationwide theater release starting August 1.