MANILA, Philippines — Four years since production for the sequel started, "On The Job: The Missing 8" finally screens on HBO Go starting September 12.
"On The Job" is a six-part series with the first two comprising the 2013 film that was screened at that year's Cannes Film Festival while the remaining four episodes will be screened as one of the main competition and the only Philippine entry at the Director's Fortnight at the 78th Venice Film Festival from September 1 to 12.
With story and direction by the husband-and-wife tandem of Michiko Yamamoto and Erik Matti, "On The Job" continues to tell the story of crime syndicates, specifically gun-for-hires, from inside the prison run by corrupt politicians.
It started with the stories of seasoned hitman Tatang (Joel Torre) and his protege Daniel (Gerald Anderson) who are caught in a web of machinations among unscrupulous characters. It also features the story of cop Francis Coronel, Jr. (Piolo Pascual) who uncovers the ugly web of conspiracy that threatens his relationship with his wife Nicky (Shaina Magdayao).
The series further fleshes out their stories including the one of the straight-laced cop Joaquin Acosta (Joey Marquez) with the introduction of another hitman Roman Rubio (Dennis Trillo) and a set of new characters that put the spotlight on the rampant spread of fake news.
Christopher de Leon plays La Paz publisher Arnel Pangan while John Arcilla plays seasoned journalist Sisoy Salas who is a staunch defender of the government. Sisoy is constantly at odds with fellow journalist Weng (Lotlot de Leon).
"We brought back several plotlines that I've written into the original script that slowed down the main plot when it was just a movie. Now that it's a series, we can now explore as many plotlines as we can so we were now able to close the Gerald relationship story with Dawn Balagot (who played Daniel's ex-girlfried). We've also brought back the father-son angle of Joey Marquez (Joaquin) and JM de Guzman. We even was able to push the father issue and political ambition of Piolo (Francis) with the additional scenes I've uncovered in the old material," wrote Matti on his July 28 Facebook post.
He added how he was in awe at the amount of material he uncovered while making the series.
"I was surprised to feel when I saw the footage again. Their ages never changed. Same look. Same clothes. But we see more of their lives. Like they were stuck in a time capsule and we just picked new moments in their lives that we wanted to see. And there, we see it again. A little more fleshed out, a little more human," the director shared.
The series also stars Leo Martinez as the ambitious former military man Gen. Rene Pacheco who runs the gun-for-hire scheme; Dante Rivero as the calculating mayor of La Paz; Pedring Eusebio and Andrea Brillantes as Diane, Sisoy's Internet savvy daughter.
A new episode premieres every subsequent Saturday on HBO GO. — Video from HBO Asia via YouTube