Not your ordinary teen flick

MANILA, Philippines — At the recent presscon for Dead Kids, topbilled by Sue Ramirez, Khalil Ramos, Markus Paterson, Kelvin Miranda, Gabby Padilla, Vance Larena and Jan Silverio, director Mikhail “Mik” Red and Globe Studios head Quark Henares shared their excitement over their second film collaboration after Birdshot that won Best Asian Future Film at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival. Birdshot also became the first Filipino film to stream on Netflix worldwide. Globe Studios is the company behind such films as All of You, Hintayan ng Langit, Ang Panahon ng Halimaw and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral.

Pre-production for Dead Kids has already begun, while principal photography is set to start next month. Quark said, “It is because we feel so excited about this film and I think this is kind of a game changer. This is really one of the movies that Globe Studios is super excited to come out with and I think the reason being, well, we love Mik, we are such big fans of Mik and this is a great cast that you know ‘yung first meeting pa lang with Mik, we’ve decided, ‘Sige ha, basis nito talent. Not (about) fame (or the) number of followers.’ Please watch out for this film. We’re very excited to shoot it. We’ll be shooting in two or three weeks.”

Set in an exclusive high school, Dead Kids documents the frustrations and complexities of Gen Z. It is the tale of suspense with doses of comedy, sexiness, romance, heart-pounding action and trending topics. The screenplay, written by Mik’s brother Nikolas Red, is loosely based on a real kidnapping done by a group of students.

The 27-year-old filmmaker, meanwhile, considers his fifth full-length feature as his “letter to his contemporaries” and an “achievement unlocked,” saying that he wanted to “expose the entitlement and insecurities of a generation growing up in a country of extreme social disparity.” He has always been longing to have his own take on the youth or coming-of-age film.

With Globe Studios head Quark Henares (rightmost), screenwriter Nikolas Red (leftmost) and the cast members (from left) Markus Paterson, Vance Larena, Sue Ramirez, Khalil Ramos, Kelvin Miranda, Gabby Padilla and Jan Silverio

“(Dead Kids) is personal to me. A lot of the characters and some of the experiences were drawn from high school experiences. I’ve always wanted to make a film of the Instagram generation at the same time I don’t want it to be your ordinary teen barkada film. It’s also a cautionary tale and also a crime story in the age of social media. It’s always like all my films are a blend of different genres and I think you get to see the bigger picture and the intricacies of this generation. We want it to be very authentic, very unfiltered but at the same time we want you to have fun while watching,” said Mik.

He said that whenever he makes a film, his objective is to present a full-package of a project, making sure it has layers but still entertaining.

“The first half (of the film) is almost like a barkada dark comedy and later on when they (kidnappers) execute the plan, it becomes a sort of a suspense thriller. So, it’s a blend of both, it’s something new, it’s something exciting and something that I feel like has not been made at least locally,” he noted.

“In every project, I make sure it’s a different genre. I make sure I learn something new also as an artist and a storyteller. And I think it still has elements and themes you would see in my previous works but this is maybe the most modern or pinaka-pop na film ko so far.”   

Asked how challenging it is for a millennial director to direct fellow millennials, he told The STAR, “It is definitely gonna be challenging for me because it’s the first time that I’ll be working with an ensemble cast. It’s challenging for me, especially like I don’t really consider myself as actor’s director because I am kind of an introvert. Before, I was more on the technical side, sa camera, sa writing and now I’m tackling this. It’s a good way to start because it’s something very familiar to me being a millennial. Coming from almost the same generation, few years apart lang naman kami ng mga actors so I think it’s a good starting-off point for me to hone my skills and craft as a director.”