The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Boy Villasanta
Veteran of one movie director Efren Reyes, Jr. is in the thick of things looking for the right actor-singer to portray the colorful and intriguing life of the late pop icon April Boy Regino.
According to Efren, WaterPlus Productions, the company to produce “Idol (The April Boy Regino Story),” is currently holding submissions of demo reels of male singers to become actors and later reduced to one to breathe life to April Boy’s character onscreen.
“We are about to start filming ‘Idol’ in June so we must finalize the cast right away,” said Reyes, Jr.
As the director of the biopic, Jun (Efren’s nickname) has the full control of the final choice of the actor to play Regino.
On Saturday, May 11, 2024, Armando Reyes, associate producer and audition master for the project will lead the face-to-face audition of the seventeen passers to the tryout who were chosen from the initial submissions of their reels.
Hopefuls whose age range from 18 to 30+ are qualified to go under rigorous scrutiny to determine the one among the prospects who would play the role of April Boy.
Meanwhile, eight kids will vie for the role of the little April Boy in the movie.
After the finals, the lucky chosen one will undergo meticulous training with acting and singing coaches.
“Hindi basta-basta ang mapipili namin. Bihira lang dumating ang ganitong pagkakataon (Our final choice won’t be just an ordinary one. Chances like these come rarely),” quipped Jun.
Meanwhile, Armando said that there are passers who have conflicts of schedule about joining the audition.
In his Facebook wall, Arman (Armando’s pet name), disclosed that some handlers and managers of passers have managed troubleshooting.
“May ilang initial passers na may nauna nang performances on that day, kaya nangako ang manager-handler “Let me fix his schedule po. Closing po kasi ng aming palabas this weekend. Naka-contract (There are auditionees who have prior commitments on that day so their handlers promised to do something about it. One of them said ‘…it’s his last day of performance and he is signed up) po siya to perform this Saturday and Sunday,'” said Arman.
“In that case, hiniling naming forward-an na lang kami ng videoclip na ipapapanuod sa auditioners, na iginawad din namin sa auditionees na taga-Davao at Cebu (We just instructed them to send us videoclips to be screened just like what we did to passers from those cities,” he added.
Venue for the face-to-face audition at 2 pm is at #Cafe, Vi-Zia-Re Wellness Spa, 108 Scout Gandia St near Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City.