Direk Joey: The untold story behind Till My Heartaches End

MANILA, Philippines - Now it can be told: The creative juice and imagination of direk Joey Javier Reyes was put to an acid test when he got his latest assignment, Till My Heartaches End, Star Cinema’s “Valentine in October” offering which is topbilled by Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson in their third big-screen outing (after First Day High and Paano Na Kaya?).

As Joey related, he was at Trinoma last Sept. 15 when he got an urgent call from Star Cinema people for a meeting. It was a last-minute thing.

“I asked what the story was all about and they told me there was none yet,” said Joey. “I thought the movie was going to be shown early next year yet, so I asked them to verify. When they told me that the playdate was Oct. 27, I got fidgety pero umandar na ang utak ko.”

And what a mind it was!

Driving on the way from Trinoma to the ELJ Building beside the ABS-CBN Studios, approximately 20 minutes away, Joey let his fertile imagination fly and by the time he arrived at the meeting, he was ready with a plot for a movie that was to be Till My Heartaches End. He said that he got the inspiration from (500) Days of Summer, one of the Hollywood movies that he loved so much.

In the movie, Gerald plays Paolo Barredo or Powie who wants to prove to the world that he can rise above his status in life. Born out of wedlock, Powie eventually makes good despite the fact that he grew up in a tough environment. But just when things are falling into place, Powie finds out that success comes with a price.

On the other hand, Kim as Agnes Garcia longs to see her family complete again. At six years old, her parents (her mother is a medical technician in the US and her father an engineer in Riyadh) left the country to work abroad. Agnes’ goal is to reunite with her parents abroad, so she works hard to pass the nursing board exams.

Then, Powie and Agnes meet at a café and suddenly their lives take an entirely different direction.

A confessed young-at-heart who works very well with young stars, Joey finds the plot right up his alley. Shooting kicked off smoothly and the movie is ready for its opening today in 100 theaters nationwide. Till My Heartaches End also stars Angel Jacob, Enrique Gil, Martin del Rosario, Cacai Bautista, Nina Dolino, Eda Nolan, Dianne Medina, Manual Chua and Mark Gil.

Joey is the same brilliant mind behind such Star Cinema hits as May Minamahal (with Aga Muhlach and Aiko Melendez), Kung Ako Na Lang Sana (Aga and Sharon Cuneta), and the Metro Filmfest hits Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo and Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo which star Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo.

As coincidence would have it, in real life Kim and Gerald are “friends in love” whose vibes don’t seem to get in tune, with Gerald making a tearful confession during the movie’s presscon that he has brought Kim so much heartaches so he was making a public apology and asking for forgiveness. Right smack into the movie’s theme of heartaches waiting to end.

Said Joey, “It was an unnerving experience watching an actor break down at a presscon. It was my first time to see it with my own eyes and I couldn’t believe it.”

Heartaches are part and parcel of Joey’s life and career and like the characters of Kim and Gerald in the movie, he could hardly wait for his own heartaches to end.