When body enhancement turns into comedy
DIRECTOR Bobby Bonifacio helms his third movie for Vivamax, “Salamat Daks”, to start streaming on March 10. His first Vivamax movie was the psychological thriller, “Tahan”, starring Cloe Baretto, followed by the black comedy, “Bula”, starring Ayanna Misola.
“‘Salamat Daks’ is a sexy comedy about a woman in her 50s, Maricar, as played by Alma Moreno, who has not experienced love but falls in love with a younger vlogger, si Nikko Natividad,” he says.
“Debbie Garcia plays her friend who influenced her para magpa-enhance siya. So para makasabay kay Nikko, she used all her saving for cosmetic enhancement. Ang original title nito is ‘Botox
Beauty’. After all the treatments on her, she does look younger, now played by Ayanna Misola in our second movie together. Ginawa naming ‘Salamat Daks’ ang title to play on ‘Salamat Doc’, kasi ‘yung character dito ni Nikko is supposed to be daks or well endowed.”
Isn’t he afraid folks might say that his movie is similar to “Miss Granny” where the old Nova Villa becomes younger as played by Sarah Geronimo?
“Yes, I know ‘Miss Granny’, pero marami namang ibang transformation stories even abroad, like ‘17 Again’ with Matthew Perry, ‘18 Again’ with George Burns, ‘13 Going on 30’ with Jennifer
Garner and even ‘Benjamin Button’. And I’m fascinated by this kind of story. The difference of ‘Salamat Daks’ is it’s a sexy comedy about retoke and its effects on people.”
So how did he cast the movie? “Si Ayanna, second time namin after ‘Bula’. When I pitched the project to Boss Vic of Viva, si Alma agad ang name he mentioned sa lead role ng Maricar and okay agad sa akin. When I talked to Alma and told her what the movie is about, natuwa siya sa story. Nakaka-relate daw siya sa character ni Maricar na na-in love sa younger person kasi she has experienced it. So go na go siya agad. Napakasarap niyang katrabaho. Tawa lang nang tawa sa set. Lahat ng eksena, very open siya to execute it. I really enjoyed working with her.”
So why did he choose Nikko Natividad in the male lead when he hasn’t played a lead role before? “Yung concept kasi, kailangan magaling ‘yung lead actor sa comedy. Viva gave me a list of their actors and when I saw Nikko in the list, I felt perfect siya sa role. I’ve seen his vlogs at iilan lang ang may talent talaga for comedy. And true enough, he delivered. But at first, he was hesitant kasi may sexy love scenes with Ayanna and he hasn’t done a love scene before. But game naman siya, he even had butt exposure in the movie.”
How does he feel about people who seek cosmetic procedure to look younger? Will he be doing more sexy Vivamax projects?
“Wala namang masama magpa-enhance ng sarili mo kung mai-improve talaga ang confidence mo, personality mo, pero mas importante pa rin ang kagandahan ng puso mo at kabutihan ng kalooban mo. As for my next projects, I am doing two horror films and then later, a romcom na sana, for theatrical release.”
