October 31 ------ After playing police investigator Lt. Hermes Papauran in last year’s three-and-a-half-hour long “Essential Truths of the Lake” by Lav Diaz, John Lloyd Cruz is back to doing another off-beat character, this time for Bor Ocampo’s “Moneyslapper,” which will have its world premiere at the QCinema International Film Festival. “Madami nang pinagdaanan ang pelikulang ito, nagpapasalamat na lang ako at maipapalabas na,” Cruz told GMA News Online in a recent phone interview.
Based on QCinema’s teaser summary, “Moneyslapper” is the story of Daniel (Cruz), who leaves his hometown Porac in Pampanga province after “a life-changing lottery win.” Ahead of its premiere, Cruz’s fans have shown excitement in seeing him back on screen in a two-hour long film. A commenter in one of Cruz’s official fan pages wrote: “Idol, mainstream naman!” Those who’ve followed Cruz’s career path as film actor know he has stopped doing big mainstream film outfits in the last seven years. His last and possibly the closest to a mainstream film was Erik Matti's "Honor Thy Father," where Cruz veered away from being a romantic lead and opted for an anti-hero character.
Since then. the actor has been collaborating with Diaz and other auteurs whose works are more recognized in major festivals in Europe like in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Vienna, Rotterdam, among others. Cruz has done about seven films with Diaz, which most of them holding their Philippine premieres at QCinema. These films also had a minimum of three-and-a-half hours, with the longest running for seven hours. Which makes "Moneyslapper" is a little different. Besides being shorter in length, the new movie features Cruz's major creative inputs from the development of the script to choosing actors for the film, working closely with Ocampo.
Source: gmanetwork.com
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