Why Vilma chose Kim

MANILA, Philippines - Among the new breed of Kapamilya stars, Gov. Vilma Santos handpicked Kim Chiu to join her in Chito Roño’s The Healing under Star Cinema, which celebrates Vilma’s 50th anniversary in showbiz.  

In The Healing, another horror-suspense from direk Chito, who also megged the scary blockbusters Feng Shui and Sukob, Kim plays the stepdaughter of Vilma, who’s very ill but can’t be treated because of lack of money. She seeks help from Vilma’s character, who “seems to bring her and the other characters in the film to ruin and because of my character, they all have different experiences,” according to Vilma.   

When asked why the first team-up of Vilma and Kim was horror and not heavy drama as their fans would have anticipated or wanted, Vilma explained that she was the one who has long requested direk Chito to cast her in a horror project since she saw Feng Shui in 2004. Direk Chito and Vilma have previously worked in three films, namely Ikaw Lang, Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa? and Dekada ’70. 

Since the Batangas governor rarely does films (her last was In My Life in 2009), “I wanted to do something new — a new challenge,” said Vilma and it took them several years to convince direk Chito to come up with the film.

When they were doing the casting, Vilma related that she was given a list of young stars and she personally chose Kim, adding that viewers will see a different Kim, without the proverbial loveteam partner, in this film. “I think (the film) is really an interesting project for us two.”

What does she find in Kim that she became her personal choice? Surely, there’s on shortage of young talent that also deserves to pit acting skills with her.

“Remember when I did an (ABS-CBN) special?” Vilma said. “One of the guests there was Kim. They did somewhat of a workshop for (acting) newcomers, and Kim re-enacted a scene of mine in (my film) the Dolzura Cortez Story, delivering the line ‘Anong karapatan mong sabihin sa akin yan? Diyos ka ba? Ikaw ba ang nagdidikta ng buhay ko?’” (The film had Vilma sweeping the acting honors in 1993, just among her many acting grand slam years.)

Since then, that episode stayed in Vilma’s mind. She added, “I see Kim as a very raw, new and fresh. She doesn’t have much technical experience yet and it’s a joy to work with actors like that. Of course, it cannot be all me (in a film), but you need chemistry with your co-stars. And her raw (talent), and I get to see in other projects, she’s good, and during the shooting, she was also professional, I can really say that I didn’t make a mistake in choosing her.”

Kim, for her part, is still overwhelmed at having worked alongside Vilma, sharing that the moment she was told by her handler that she was to work with her, she said yes right away, without even asking what the project would be, what her role was or how important it was.

During their shooting breaks, she felt extremely shy around Vilma. She revealed that when Vilma asked her to enter her dressing room, she would make up all sorts of excuses from going to the bathroom to choosing to stay outside, the heat notwithstanding, because she was intimidated by Vilma’s presence.

During her very first scene with Vilma, she was thankful that she had no speaking lines, otherwise she said, she would have clammed up or bungled her dialogue.  

She is thankful though that Vilma “is really so down-to-earth (given her stature in the business).” “Ngayon ko lang din nalaman na pinili pala ako ni Ate Vi. I feel so blessed.”

Meanwhile, direk Chito said that the film is partly inspired by his encounters and observations on all types of healers and not just confined to faith healers. He noted that The Healing is quite strong compared to his past horror hits which would appear like Disney flicks. (The Healing, in fact, have two versions screening in theaters beginning yesterday, based on the R-13 and R-18 ratings given by the MTRCB.)

He, nevertheless, added that as a director he was challenged by Vilma’s insistence and derring-do to take on something new. “There are so many things she did here that she doesn’t do anymore since she is the drama queen. It’s exciting to see Vi in this film.”

Also in the cast are Pokwang, Mark Gil, Martin del Rosario, Allan Paule, Cris Villanueva, Daria Ramirez, Ces Quesada, Ynez Veneracion, Simon Ibarra, Abi Bautista, Joel Torre, Chinggoy Alonso, Mon Confiado and Carmi Martin.