Sam Milby works with newbie director in his first action film "Cul de Sac"

Cinemabuhay is about to release its new film project, a suspense-thriller entitled “Cul de Sac” (Dead End), for the PLDT-Smart Foundation led by Mr. Butch Meily, PSF president, and actor Albert Martinez, PSF executive director (Film Fund).

At the helm of this groundbreaking project “Cul de Sac” is a young director named Juan Miguel Sevilla who took up Mass Communications at the Ateneo de Manila University. He won the P1 million film grant from Cinemabuhay to bankroll the project after besting other finalists of the contest put up by Cinemabuhay.

Starring Sam Milby is his first action role, “Cul de Sac” also stars Jody Santamaria-Lacson and Chin Chin Gutierrez.

“The title is derived from a French word which means bottom of the bag. But in the context of the story, it could also mean dead end. I thought of this story when I was still in college. I was looking for a place to park but I found myself in a dead end. In real life, it’s not a dead end because you can actually make a u-turn,” explained the young director.

“This is a story of guy (Sam) who seems stuck on a dead end. He thought he didn’t have a choice but actually he has. All he needs to do is make a u-turn.”

The film is Sam’s first crack at doing an action film. “Cul de Sac” could be likened to “Fight Club” which stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, who happens to be Sam’s favorite actors.

After graduating from college, Direk Juan Miguel started doing several music videos for several bands like Kwan, MYMP, and Chicosci Band. He also did a music video for an aspiring Viva Records artist.

When he learned about the Cinemabuhay contest and that the PLDT-Smart Foundation was on the lookout for possible projects, the newbie filmmaker submitted the sequence on “Cul de Sac” that he did three years ago. Luckily, his entry was the one chosen among the four finalists (whittled from an original list of 39). “I received an email that my entry was chosen and the Cinemabuhay executives, led by Mr. Butch Meily and Mr. Albert Martinez, wanted me to meet up with them and present my project.”

After his script was chosen, the young director started to shop around for possible actors to play the lead role in his first feature film. “We had Sam Milby on top of our list. I chose him to play the lead role. He liked the story after reading it. He even talked to Star Magic to convince them that he’d do the project,” said the young filmmaker.

“Since it is my first time to direct I was kind of scared in dealing with a big star of Sam’s caliber. It’s added pressure on my part and I cannot afford to make a mistake”

So how was the experience working with Sam?

 “He’s very good. On our first shooting day, he seems even more excited than me. I talked to him. I told him it’s my first film and it’s my concept. He also gave me inputs with regards to the story. So I became a little more relaxed. I was kind of afraid dealing with a star of his caliber but after meeting Sam, I realized he’s a very nice person. He was one of the nicest persons I’ve met. It’s not an actor-director relationship that we were able to develop,” said Juan Miguel.

“I told him that I hope he could help me because it’s my first film. Actually, he’s very easy to work with. He can take directions very well. He can easily pick up directions. I let him do a character test before we started filming because I’ve never seen him in a character like this before. It was in the script that he’d appear deglamorized for the role.”

According to Mr. Butch Meily of the PLDT Smart Foundation and Cinemabuhay, “Cul de Sac” topped the 37 entries submitted for funding. “We were impressed by Juan Miguel and his team and their dedication to the project and the script was fascinating,” he said. Mr. Meily added that the fact that story “Cul de Sac” was set in the world of Manila’s call centers made it more intriguing.

“This is a very personal project for Juan Miguel that he truly believes in and has given his all for,” said Mr. Meily. He’d like to see how good “Cul de Sac” is and then they will make a decision of sending into an international competition. However, they are considering sending the film to the United States for commercial showings.

“We have high expectations for the film. We will know soon if these expectations will be born out. I’ve seen a rough cut of the movie. It’s well-shot, impressive with a twist at the end. It has good acting by all actors. I believe Juan Miguel is a real talent with a great future in the film industry,” added Mr. Meily.