After Secrets, award-winning writer and director Joey Reyes is delving into the sexy genre again with the film An/Na to be streamed on Vivamax starting Sept. 25.
The upcoming four-part original series follows the story of Anna (Janelle Tee) who works in a sales industry, yet her income is not enough to make ends meet. To provide for her family, she gets involved in the sex trade and goes by the name of Mei Ling as the “seductress at night.”
The cast also includes Migs Almendras, Greg Hawkins, Rob Guinto, Guji Lorenzana, Fabio Ide, Rolando Inocencio, Micaella Raz, CJ Jaravata, Axel Torres, Azi Acosta and Clara del Rosario.
According to direk Joey, among the salient issues being tackled in the series are the obligation of children to their parents and the preconceived notion of people on individuals who are living life on the edge.
“Hopefully, it can start a conversation, especially about Filipino values and the way we look at life and look at (money),” he told The STAR in a recent virtual call.
Direk Joey’s An/Na is his reunion project with Janelle, whom he regarded as a “thinking actress” much like the former actress Ana Capri. He also commended the “intelligent actors” he had worked on set for his newest series.
Moreover, he noted similarities and differences of the sexy stars he had collaborated with previously and the young actors of today. Direk Joey is behind the daring movies, Phone Sex (1999), starring Ara Mina, and the controversial Live Show (2000) with Klaudia Koronel, Capri and Hazel Espinosa as lead stars.
“The similarity is ang sense of daring is still very, very much there. Ang pagkakaiba I guess yung attitude ng mga bata ngayon,” he explained. “Ana Capri was not only sexy but she was qualified as a good actress. What made Ana different from the rest of her generation was that she was a thinking actress. In other words, she was not going to take off her clothes and then think that that is a performance. For her, she was using her body to express a character.”
“In case of the present generation, we have that, too,” he continued.
He said that unlike before that the level of popularity was based on appearance on stage, “The millennials (today) are Internet-based yung mga experience nila at tsaka yung knowledge mismo is a bit wider because of the accessibility of the information, plus may built-in audience na sila (because of social media).”
He cited the actors whom he had worked with in Secrets and An/Na, saying, “The fact that they can understand the instructions and keep the character when you ask for character, matatalino sila. Yung level of sophistication compared sa level of sophistication noong time na I started doing mature movies, ibang-iba.”
On the comeback of erotic films in the industry, he offered three reasons why this was so. “No. 1, the streaming service is not under the watchful eye of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB),” he shared.
“With mainstream movies and even indie movies, the moment you show them in commercial movie houses, they have to pass through the MTRCB. And the MTRCB will never allow such a thing that you know… there’s a certain calibration on how much sex you can show, hindi ba because of our MTRCB.”
“Secondly, which is equally important, a great number of our commercial movie houses will not allow R-Rated movies. Alam natin yan. May mga malls na hindi pumapayag na ang sinehan nila nagpapalabas ng R-Rated movies,” he continued.
“So kung… (R-Rated) for adults only. So kung ang daming malls na hindi magpalabas ng R-Rated movies, kaunti lang ang pwede mong palabasan ng mga ganitong klaseng movies.”
“No. 3, hindi ba yung ipinagbabawal mo ay lalong masarap, hindi ba? Mas katakam-takam yung ipinagkakait mo sa tao, mas nagiging delicious sya. Hindi ko naman sinasabi na ang Filipinos are exceptionally, you know, horny. Although we are the greatest… consumers, hindi ba? That’s part of our character. The moment na i-de-deprive mo ‘yan sa tao, mas hahanap-hanapin yan.”
He then posed the questions, “Now the question is, will this be a trend? Will this last? That we will see. There will be a certain tipping point na magsasawa ang tao sa ganito. Anong ibig sabihin nun?”
“It’s not the sex alone that matters. It’s the content in which you put the sex which is important. Kahit anong pang sabihin mo, it’s about the story. If you’re there for the sex, I think there are other avenues for you to be able to watch it, to watch things like that,” he further stated.
“Bakit bumalik itong trend na ‘to? Because now there’s streaming and the opportunity is there. (There are) so many streaming platforms going in that direction. Perhaps, the only difference is (that) Vivamax is the pioneer and Vivamax has a certain degree of respect for production value and content,” he said.