Kathryn Bernardo & Dolly De Leon Talk Filipino Dark Comedy ‘A Very Good Girl’; “Days Of Women’s Stories Being In The Shadows Are Close To Over”
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Kathryn Bernardo, known as the Queen of Philippines Cinema, and Triangle Of Sadness star Dolly de Leon are both almost unrecognizable in their new movie, A Very Good Girl, which ABS-CBN and Star Cinema are opening at the U.S. box office today (October 6).
Bernardo, who is famous for her roles in romantic dramas, plays a woman hell bent on revenge against a former employer who sacked her – a glamorous retail tycoon called Mother Molly, played by De Leon. Bernardo’s character switches between her true self – down-trodden, working-class girl Mercy, now forced to scam foreigners online for a living, and her faux persona as high-rolling socialite Philo, out to trick her former boss.
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“I specifically asked Star Cinema to pitch me something a bit out of the box for me – something about empowerment or a bit dark,” says Bernardo, when asked what she liked about the project. “My fans in the Philippines were surprised because they’re not used to seeing me in roles like this.”
Meanwhile, De Leon, who international audiences know as the resourceful domestic worker in Ruben Ostlund’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Triangle Of Sadness, spends much of this film decked out in designer dresses and swanning around at high society events.
“I was looking forward to playing someone with agency, because that’s so different to most of the characters I’ve played in the past,” says De Leon, whose previous work also includes gritty roles in films by Lav Diaz and Erik Matti. “It was also my first anti-hero role. Molly is very controlling to the point that people tend to hate her, even if she’s trying to win their love. I was really interested in playing a character who has a kind of psychosis about her.”
Directed by Petersen Vargas, the dark comedy deploys many of the tropes of mainstream Filipino cinema, but with an additional dose of flamboyance and satire, before deviating into the twisted faux mother-daughter dynamic between Philo and Mother Molly. Think Crazy Rich Asians, but with much more violence and some social commentary.
However, Vargas is keen to point out that this a woman’s story – it was initially written by a woman, Marionne Dominique Mancol – and behind the comedy is a tale of the lengths that women are forced to go to in order to survive in this world. “What I like about this film is that we are not demonizing the women characters,” says Vargas, whose credits include award-winning LGBTQ drama 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten and Star Cinema romcom An Inconvenient Love.
“That’s why Dolly calls her character an anti-hero, and not a villain, because they’re all victims of certain traditions and values, but at the same time they’re also women of agency. They’re just trying to navigate life and reclaim what they’ve lost.”
De Leon adds: “It’s definitely a story about women, but I think men should be also interested because it will help them understand women more in a way. A lot of people, especially filmmakers, will agree when we say that women need a bigger platform to tell their stories. In fact, the days of women’s stories being in the shadows are close to over.”
Bernardo and De Leon say they’re both personally familiar with the crazy, rich world of high society Manila, but like the way the film contrasts that with the more real side of the Philippines. “It was a world I grew up in as my mom was a socialite, although we weren’t wealthy, so I would go to lavish parties and be jealous of the other kids’ toys,” smiles De Leon. “So yes, the social hierarchies in the Philippines are really far apart, but we’re also friends with people from all places in society.”
Bernardo agrees: “I know the glamorous side from being an actress, but I’ve also met a lot of people who are very grounded. My line of work has given me the opportunity to observe people from all backgrounds, and hopefully take something away from that to use in my acting.”
On a less serious note, Bernardo says she also enjoyed the challenge of playing both sides of society in one film, despite the fact that schedules meant she often had to play both roles in rapid succession. “I’d be pulling off the false nails and lashes and putting on a whole different emotional range to play Mercy, then jumping back into make-up to play Philo. It was crazy, but fortunately I had the best support system with Petersen and Miss Dolly.”
Starting out as a child actress, Bernardo is the first and only Filipina actress who has starred in two movies that have grossed more than PHP800M ($15M) in the Philippines – The Hows Of Us (2018) and Hello, Love, Goodbye (2019) – and also has a solid fanbase in the Southeast Asia region.
Classically trained in theatre, De Leon was known for her work across stage, arthouse cinema and HBO series Folklore before her role in Triangle Of Sadness, for which she won best supporting actress the Los Angeles Films Critics Association Awards, and nominations at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
A Very Good Girl is already off to a strong start at the Philippines box office where it opened last week and has grossed PHP75M to become one of the biggest local releases of the year. It opens on around 70 screens in the U.S. today.
De Leon has spent some time in North America since being signed up by Fusion Entertainment following her Triangle Of Sadness success. “What I realized on my travels is that there’s a huge population of Filipinos everywhere that we can count on,” she says when asked how she thinks the film will play in the U.S. “As for the wider U.S. audience, they’re much more open-minded and curious these days and the themes in this film are very universal, so it’s going to resonate with them.”
Mancol wrote the original story for the film and co-wrote the script with Jumbo A. Albano and Daniel S. Saniana. John Leo D. Garcia and Carmi G. Raymundo produced for ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema. The cast also includes Donna Cariaga, Chie Filomeno, Jake Ejercito, Ana Abad Santos, Gillian Vicencio, Kaori Oinuma, Nour Hooshmand, Althea Ruedas and Natania Guerro.
You can watch the trailer for A Very Good Girl here.
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