By NESTOR CUARTERO
BRAVE: Antonette Jadaone’s new movie, “Fan Girl,” needed an actor who was brave, bold, daring.
The director, who made her mark through rom-com films, said she was glad Paulo Avelino accepted the part.
It’s a role that’s both easy and difficult for the actor, who’s playing himself in the film.
The downside?
There’s always the risk that people might misconstrue what they’ll see on screen and identify it with the real Paulo off-screen.
Paulo said he accepted the project as he found something new in it.
He assured himself he should not worry about what people might think of him when they see the movie.
“It’s still a role I’m playing. I’m Paulo Avelino playing Paulo Avelino.”
SEDUCTION: “Fan Girl” is the story of a common fan (Charlie Dizon), who sneaks into the home of her idol (Paulo, a movie star).
The forced entry leads to seduction, and that’s where the issue of the separation between on-screen and off-screen personae can pose a problem.
Jadaone says her film takes a cursory look at fan culture as a whole. Why is idolatry rampant?
“Fan Girl,” one of 10 entries to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival, debuted at the 2020 Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) in Japan recently.
NUDITY: Jadaone says “Fan Girl” is far from being a rom-com as it delves into the more serious psychology of fan-dom.
Part of the seduction scene is a fleeting frontal nudity scene by Paulo, who expressed no qualms in pulling it off.
The actor says that scene actually helped enhance the story.
In an online confab, Paulo joked that the staff, most of them women, probably just wanted to see him naked.
“Fan Girl” is a collaboration between Black Sheep, Globe Studios, Project 8, Epicmedia, and Crossword Productions.
