Star Cinema’s casting coup

Star Cinema’s romance-drama, Dubai, scores a casting coup by putting together Aga Muhlach, Claudine Barretto and John Lloyd Cruz.

Directed by Rory Quintos from a screenplay by Ricky Lee and Shaira Mella Salvador, Dubai is the story of three Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and how fate radically changes their lives when their paths cross in Dubai, a city in the Middle East considered by many Filipinos as the land of their dreams.

Aga and John Lloyd play brothers Raffy and Andrew who came from humble beginnings but who share a dream of a better life. When Raffy finds a good-paying job in Dubai and gets settled there, he asks Andrew to follow. Things go well between the brothers until Claudine as Faye, also an OFW in Dubai, enters their lives.

Dubai is the first movie together of Aga and Claudine after Kailangan Kita also directed by Rory Quintos.

Filmed entirely in Dubai, the movie is the latest in a series of Star Cinema projects set abroad. The first was Anak starring Vilma Santos and Claudine Barretto; and the second was Milan, also starring Claudine with Piolo Pascual. Anak was shot in Hong Kong and Milan in Italy.

Besides the poignant love story, Dubai offers moviegoers a front-seat view of some of the city’s scenic spots, including the skyscrapers of Shiek Zayed and Al Ain cities, the camels and the vast Sand Dunes.

Dubai makes the second collaboration of Ricky Lee and Shaira Mella Salvador (their first was May Nagmamahal) who have come up with another absorbing love story woven around the lives of OFWs.

The movie theme is Ikaw Lamang, composed by Ogie Alcasid and sung by Gary Valenciano.

Dubai opens worldwide on Sept. 28 in Dubai, Milan, San Francisco, Vancouver, Saipan, Guam and Vienna, simultaneously with over 100 theaters across the Philippines.