Everything About My Wife, out in local cinemas on February 26, was already in the pipeline of CreaZion Studios prior to the multimedia company’s inception in August 2023. “This was pitched to us by Glimmer [Studio] Philippines, a local production that has a relationship with Korea,” says the film’s director and the company’s chief creative officer, Real Florido.
At the time, the company, which is a merger between T-Rex Entertainment and Firestarters Productions, had yet to select a director for the romantic comedy movie. Florido had just completed working on Will You Be My Ex? and his Cinemalaya entry Bakit ‘Di Mo Sabihin?, which went on to win best feature film at the Della Awards in Germany.
So, CreaZion Studios president RJ Agustin thought that Florido would be a good fit for the project. “I looked into it, I watched it, and I feel like this is something that is close to the themes that I have been doing since 1st Ko Si 3rd back in 2014, my debut film,” Florido tells me over Zoom. “And it’s not really the genre, but the story of marriage and relationship that I’m drawn to.”
Florido then tapped Rona Co, a co-writer of the blockbuster romantic drama Hello, Love, Goodbye to work on the screenplay. Co also serves as the team’s creative manager.
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When conceiving the project, Florido already had Jennylyn Mercado in mind for the lead role. The two had long been friends due to their previous work back when Florido was still producing soap operas for network television. “I told her, ‘Hey Jenn, this is a movie that we’re working on and I think it suits you.’”
Though it only took Mercado overnight to say yes to the movie, production did not take place until a year later. “She said, ‘I want this, but wait for me.’ I told her, ‘Of course, we will wait for you,’” shares Florido.
Mercado went on an acting hiatus at the time, after giving birth to Dylan Jayde, her daughter with actor Dennis Trillo. “She’s taking care of the baby and, at that time, people were still scared to come out even if the pandemic status had already been lifted. I can remember that I still had a face mask when I pitched it to her,” the director continues.
Trillo, meanwhile, still wasn’t up to star opposite his wife in the movie, chiefly because of their agreement that there should be someone taking care of their child. “I think it’s really the right timing because we came to a point when Dennis said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’ So, yeah, I think saying yes wasn’t hard, but it’s the timing. So everything’s perfect, I guess, because of the right timing,” says Florido.
The Filipino director – also the author of comic series Badingger-Z and the Accla Assassin, whose second volume will be out this March – says he’s been eyeing the actor to be part of the project since they “need someone very sensitive… and someone who has that kind of layers when it comes to acting, whether comedy or drama.”
Prior to Trillo, though, Gerald Anderson had been considered for the part, but it didn’t push through due to conflicting schedules.
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Based on the 2008 Argentinian film Un Novio Para Mi Mujer, Everything About My Wife centers on Dom (Trillo) and Imogen (Mercado), whose marriage begins to turn sour, forcing the husband to resort to the womanizer Miguel (Sam Milby) to prompt his wife for a legal separation.
The movie marks the real-life couple’s first onscreen project together since working on Albert Martinez’s period drama Rosario in 2010. It also stars Carmi Martin, Ruby Ruiz, Romnick Sarmenta, and Nova Villa, among others.
Production began around February 2024 and wrapped up two months later, before post-production kicked off around midyear. “I think it’s post-production that takes a lot of time now, and it should be because it’s your second time directing the movie. The first time is on the set. The second time is in the cutting room.”
“It was fun, it was a breeze,” Florido says of the filming process. Locations included Cebu and Manila, and it helped that the weather was temperate at the time. “I cannot remember problems or troubles. We really had fun during the shoot because the actors are very professional and they’re very easy to work with.”
The director describes Mercado as a “ball of energy” on set, sharing that she’s even ballroom-dancing at times. “So you’re no longer surprised by this video of her when she stormed out the door and then just suddenly danced in front of Dennis Trillo. I think it’s going viral,” he continues. “I mean, if you’ve seen her in the workspace, she’s also like that. She’s very playful.”
Past this, he points out how professional his collaborators are. “It’s so easy for directors to work with mature actors, actors who know that this is work, actors who are collaborative, actors who are coming from a confident position in life, actors who can bring out their life experiences and use it to give life to the characters.”
Clik here to view.
In terms of the movie’s visual paraphernalia, Florido did not resort to the material’s predecessors. “For this, I want the actors to really look beautiful because you want to be in love with them, to really feel with them.”
Instead of a specific reference for the shotlist, he prefers a color story. “There’s a certain color story that you can identify while watching it. But as a whole, if you are not keen on these technicalities, all you have to do is just feel, and you will feel it through the colors that’s being brought out in the cinema,” he explains.
Filming by gut and chasing after a feeling have always been part and parcel of Florido’s sensibilities as a director and storyteller. “And there’s no single formula for me, say in Bakit ‘Di Mo Sabihin?, you’d be surprised that my general reference would be Dune by Denis Villeneuve and that is sci-fi and this is a mature, adult love story about deaf people. Why? Because I found Dune [to be] very sensory; when you watch it you can feel it rather than just be amazed with what you see.”
“My guide would always be asking myself this question, ‘How do you make people feel?’ So, there’s no right formula for me,” he adds. “But I’m always inspired by a lot of movies, not by specific genres; it’s really the feeling that’s important for me rather than just putting everything visually.”
Since his Cinemalaya debut over a decade ago, Florido also observes that he’s largely drawn to films delving into conversations about human relationships, in all its forms. “Talking about what comes in between two people when they fall in love and how they keep that love alive. I think that topic for me is very interesting because there’s no single answer to that. There’s no single formula in making a relationship work. And a lot of us want to know how to really navigate this elusive search for real love or for a love that will last.”
Does he carry the same motivation as a producer? “My mantra in producing is always latch onto my belief in the project,” he’s quick to clarify, “in the stories that I think we need to tell, and stories that might not see the light of day because nobody would [dare try].”
“If the project is something that I strongly feel would be inspiring enough to at least touch one life and bring transformative changes, that is good enough for me. That is a good gamble for me,” he says. – Rappler.com
Note: Some quotes in Filipino have been translated into English for brevity.
