HUMARAP si Piolo Pascual sa media sa contract signing para sa pelikulang “Mallari’ ng Mentorque Productions na pinangungunahan ni John Bryan Diamante. Ginanap ito sa Novotel sa Araneta Center, and considering na contract signing pa lang ito, at ganito na kagarbo ang venue maituturing na mahuhulaang malaki ang gagawing pelikula. Kaagad namang inamin ng producer na balak nila itong ilahok sa darating na Metro Manila Film Festival.

Award-winning ang magiging direktor na si Derick Cabrido na subok na ang husay sa horror-thriller genre tulad ng “Clarita’ ni Jodi Sta. Maria.

Bakit tinanggap ni Piolo ang naturang project?

Ayon sa producer na si John Bryan, tinanggihan ito ni Piolo noon. Pero matapos mag-research ang aktor tungkol sa kanyang karakter na base sa isang tunay na tao, nagbago ang isip nito.

Ayon kay Piolo, “I’m a fan of horror films. I love watching horror. Since I got stuck with mga romcoms, I had no chance to do any horror film. But seeing the project, reading it and finding out the truthfulness of the person, the character that I’m gonna portray, I was like… sabi ko, this is something really interesting.”

Tatlong timelines ang pagdadaanan ng kuwento. Magsisimula ito noong 1840, magbabalik ang karakter sa 1950s, at ang huli, sa kasalukuyan.

Paano naman niya pinaghahandaan ang ganitong ka-challenging na role?

“Bahala na si Direk sa akin, marami kaming gagawin dito na medyo mahirap, first time na gagawin ko rin.

“But as an actor, I guess, it’s your obligation to always push the envelope and do something different. As I’ve said, I always wanted to do a horror film and this came at a time wherein the world is so interested in watching different genres, specially sa mga streaming platforms.

“So, as an artist I guess, it’s a welcome challenge for me and I don’t know what to expect, I haven’t prepared, I haven’t read the script and it’s gonna be really hard. But I’ll know it, once I step on the location.

“Portraying three roles is not an easy task, especially with three different timelines, three different periods… so I’m just really excited because with the production of Mentorgue, I’m just so happy because we’re all, I guess, on the same page, and thinking that we have a good film, we have a good story to tell. So, I’m just gonna ride away with them,” pahayag pa ni Piolo.

Nasa punto na ng kanyang career si Piolo kung kailan wala na siyang pakialam sa glamour ng kanyang karakter kundi kung ano ang sustansya nito.