MANILA, Philippines - Anne Curtis (photo) marks her international debut via the action-packed love story-suspense-thriller, Blood Ransom, directed by Fil-Am Francis dela Torre.
Produced by Tectonic Films, the movie, which also stars Alexander Dreymon, Samuel Caleb Hunt and Jamie Harris, opens on Oct. 29 in theaters nationwide and on Oct. 31 in the US.
Blood Ransom brings Anne a step closer to a career in Hollywood that local artists aspire for.
In an interview with Star Studio, Anne related how she auditioned and landed Blood Ransom’s central character of Crystal, the mysterious woman kidnapped by Jeremiah (Dreymon) who refuses to return to her boyfriend, Roman (Jeremiah’s boss).
“My friend Sam Richelle sent me a script asking if I’d be interested in shooting a film to be shot in the States and if I’d be willing to audition for the role. I read the scene for the audition piece and told myself, ‘Why not?’ So, I nervously gave it a shot,” Anne recalled.
She is no stranger to the international scene having previously ventured in it via a stint in America’s Next Top Model, where she donned creations by designer Francis Libiran.
Shooting Blood Ransom took Anne away from home and her It’s Showtime hosting job for almost a month. Filming with Dela Torre and the Blood Ransom team took place in California.
Challenges included a scene where she and Dreymon, as ill-fated lovers on the run, dabbled in a highly passionate kissing scene.
The actress recounted the take with Star Studio, “I had quite a difficult time understanding exactly what my director was looking for. I was doing my kissing scene as I’ve always done in my films and TV shows here in the Philippines, but he kept on cutting the scene and telling me to kiss with more passion and longer. Honestly, I couldn’t understand what was wrong with how I was kissing.
“So, this went on for several takes, until finally, Alexander just told me straight up, ‘Anne, I think Francis wants us to French kiss.’ I was in awkward shock for maybe a split second, as I’ve never French kissed in any of my films or TV shows. But I just quickly said, ‘Oh, OK, game!’ and went ahead and did it, got Francis’ approval and it was a perfect take!”
Looking back, Anne cherishes the experience and is glad she took
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