The bright business decision that backfired

John Lloyd Cruz in “Culion”

Film producer Mark Shandii Bacolod admitted that it was his idea to put a clip of controversial actor John Lloyd Cruz in the teaser of the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry, “Culion.”

“We, the production team, all agreed to use it. As they say, MMFF is a business, aside from it being a showcase of quality films,” he told the Inquirer. “Kailangan, lahat ng alas mo ilabas mo na (You need to bring out your aces). That was my thinking as a producer. It worked because the teaser and the film were trending for two days.”

Shandii said John Lloyd merely had a “special participation” in the historical drama that was written by Ricky Lee, directed by Alvin Yapan and produced by iOptions Ventures.

John Lloyd’s inclusion in the teaser, however, elicited a reaction from the controversial and reclusive actor. He said putting his face in it was “preemptive” and was the “opposite of what I actually requested and agreed on.”

“We’re reaching out to him,” Shandii said. “We want to clarify things with him. We invited him for dinner. We’re thinking that he reacted the way he did because the first message about the teaser that he got was a negative one. We got to him through the help of Meryll (Soriano, one of three leads in the film and with whom John Lloyd shares his all-important scene). We made sure to go through the proper channels to get to him.” —MARINEL R. CRUZ