Mga sikat na Korean actor dadalhin ni Grace Lee sa ‘Pinas; Hunt ni Lee Jung Jae hitik sa aksiyon

SHOWBIZ KONEK
ni Maricris Valdez Nicasio

“I want Philippines to be one of the first, if not the first South East Asia country to have the best and the closest working relationship with Korea thru Glimmer.” Ito ang ibinigay na dahilan sa amin ni Grace Lee, television host and entrepreneur at founder ng Glimmer,content production company nang makausap namin para sa Hunt press screening kamakailan.

Ang Hunt, na nag-number one sa South Korea box-office, ay isang spy action movie na nagkaroon ng world premiere at naimbitahan sa non-competitive Midnight Screening section ng 2022 Cannes Film Festival at dinala rito ng Glimmer para maipalabas sa 100 cinemas nationwide simula sa August 31, 2022.

Tatlong taon pa lang ang Glimmer at naikuwento ni Grace kung paano ito nag-umpisa. Aniya, two years before pandemic ay nagsimula siyang magpabalik-balik sa Korea dahil nga sa kanyang Glimmer company, “which is basically distribution and production company that works with Korean production.

“Actually aksidente lang na nasimulan kong itong negosyo,” panimula ni Grace. “Marami akong kaibigan at kakilala sa Korea na gusto mag-shoot dito (Pilipinas) at gusto gumawa ng proyekto rito kaya lang hindi nila masyado kilala ‘yung market. Wala kasi silang kilala na tao. So, they would come to me and asked request,” aniya. 

Kaya naman naisipan niyang itayo na ang kanyang kompanyang Glimmer dahil na rin sa napakaraming humihingi sa kanya ng tulong.

“So what I did is instead of always doing favors, I set up a company to legitimize the work. And I’m very happy because Korea is always looking up working with the Philippines. Koreans love Philippines. Koreans love the Filipino people. They always looking for the opportunities kasi to work here, kaya punompuno rin ang calendar ng Glimmer this year and even up to second quarter of next year.

“Koreans really love our country and it is because I want Philippines to be one of the first, if not the first South East Asia country to have the best and the closest working relationship with Korea thru Glimmer,” sambit pa ng television host. 

Masaya pang ibinalita ni Grace na sa susunod nilang movie project dadalhin nila ang mga main actor para makapag-promote ng kanilang pelikula.

“It will be the first time in Southeast Asia na mangyayari ito, kasi never umiikot ang Korean actors sa Southeast Asia countries to promote the movie. They do it in China, HK, or Japan pero never in Southeast Asia, so when it happens this year in the Philippines, it would be the first in South East Asia,” pagmamalaki pa nito. 

Ipinahayag pa ni Grace na target nila ang makapag-distribute ng Korean content hindi lamang ng mga pelikula, series, pero hanggang reality shows.

“I know that if you are a big fan of Korean content I’m sure umabot na kayo sa reality shows, ganoon ‘yan eh,” sabi pa ni Grace. “Nagsimula kayo sa drama and then K pop, and then movie, then reality shows. It is like the ultimate show of you being a K drama o K content fan.”

Tiniyak pa ni Grace na hindi lamang ito ang dapat na asahan sa kanila. “So we are trying to do all of that but at the same time hindi lang ‘yung one name, hindi lang kami ‘yung nag-i-import na ipalalabas namin ‘yung Korean content. 

“But it has two ways. Meaning we also want to create content together with Korean production and make an upgraded, a really international standard, a Filipino content na pwede nating i-export pabalik sa Korea and international,” giit ni Grace na ito talaga ang ultimate goal ng kanilang kompanya na ginagawa na nila ngayon.

May dalawang pelikula na silang gagawin sa first quarter ng next year at ang isa ay natapos na pero ayaw pa niyang banggitin ang titulo at magkuwento ng ukol dito dahil nais muna niyang pagtuunan ng pansin ang pelikulang Hunt na na dinala nila para mapanood ng mga Pinoy. 

“Were doing it already now so we have two projects in first quarter of next year, we already done one pero ayaw ko muna pag-usapan pero we already done it. Three months nag-shoot dito and we hired about 200 behind the camera Filipino talents and about 30 plus on cam Filipino talents and this will be shown internationally. And that’s a Korean production,” pagbabahagi pa ni Grace at sinabing may malalaking artista na kasama rito at may hindi rin gaanong kilala. 

“Some of them are big, some of them not well known, but I hope thru this opportunity they will become big,” anito pa.

Samantala isa kami sa masuwerteng nakapanood ng Hunt sa isinagawang press screening sa Director’s Club ng SM Megamall noong Agosto 25 at talaga namang hitik na hitik ito sa aksiyon. Kung hilig ninyo at kung na-miss ninyo ang mga pelikulang hitik sa aksiyon ito na iyon.

Ang Hunt ay ukol sa dalawang Korean Central Intelligence Agency unit chiefs na sina Park Pyong-ho (Lee Jung Jae ng Squid Game) at Kim Jung-do (Jung Woo Sung) na naatasang hanapin ang mole o spy sa loob ng ahensiya na may kinalaman sa planong assassination sa South Korean president. Pero kagulat-gulat ang mga pangyayari at twist sa istorya na dapat abangan.

Sabi nga ni Lee sa interview sa kanya, ibang-iba ito sa mga karaniwang napapanood na action movie. “Of course spectacular action sequences play an important part in the film, but I also wanted to make sure that the audience’s attention was held by a story that had plot twists within plot twists, and to be invested in how the two characters decide on their fates. I wanted to make a film that is filled with large and small plot twists that reinforce each other, creating great tension.” 

Twist kung twist naman talaga na akala mo ‘yun na ang excitement part ng pelikula pero hindi pa pala. Para ngang kasama ka sa pelikula sa kagustuhang malaman kung sino nga ba ang spy sa mga bida.

Ang Hunt ang directorial debut ng award-winning actor na si Lee at bilang unang pelikula niya ito, pasado ang pagkakadirehe niya para sa amin. Ang daming pasabog at talagang nakagugulat.

Kuwento ni Lee sa kanyang direksiyon, If the situations depicted in the script are convincing, and the set feels realistic, my performance will be very natural. But if that is not the case, I try to follow the director’s intent as much as possible. During pre-production rehearsals and table reads, there were instances where I edited the dialogue and blocking based on feedback from the cast, while at other times, I had to convince the cast with reason and logic even if the scene felt uncomfortable to them. In acting, reason and logic have to be concise so that the actor can freely emote, and I know that very well.”

Palabas na sa August 31 ang Hunt na ipinamamahagi sa Pilipinas ng Glimmer Inc. ni Grace Lee.