Anne Curtis leads Philippines remake of mental health K-drama ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’
MANILA, Philippines — The upcoming Filipino adaptation of the South Korean drama “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” will mark Anne Curtis’ teleserye comeback after 10 years. She essays the lead character of Emilia “Mia” Hernandez, a children’s book author with an anti-social personality disorder.
“It’s definitely worth it,” Anne told the press at the project announcement on Friday at the Dolphy Theater, ABS-CBN Studios. “Siguro hindi naman ako mag-a-accept ng isang project if I didn’t feel it was worth leaving my family for a little bit to shoot. When they offered this to me, it was an instant yes because I love the original. I couldn’t let it pass.”
The moment Anne watched the series in 2021, she called her manager, Veronique Corpus of Viva, that she wanted to do “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” as her comeback project.
“I asked her, ‘Ate, kung magbabalik ako sa series, parang I think I would like to do ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.’ Can Viva please check if we could get the rights for it?’ After a week, bumalik siya sa akin, she told me, ‘Anne, nasa ABS na siya.’ So I said, ‘OK well if ever hindi matuloy guys keep in mind, and then (the remake happened).”
The last lead role of Anne in a TV series was in Mars Ravelo’s Dyesebel in 2014. The local adaptation of “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” follows Mia (Anne), a woman diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder. She gets romantically involved with PatPat (Joshua Garcia), a psych ward caretaker, who has dedicated his life to taking care of his autistic older brother MatMat (Carlo Aquino). In the original drama, Anne’s role was portrayed by Seo Ye Ji as Ko Moon Young, while Joshua and Carlo’s characters were played by Kim Soo Hyun (as Moon Gang Tae) and Oh Jung Se (as Moon Sang Tae), respectively.
The series is directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar fresh from the success of “Can’t Buy Me Love” with Henry King Quitain as creative producer.
Henry shared that they will inject the Filipino touch into the original series and they will film in Negros province and Iloilo City. It will also be available on Netflix soon.
The series will tackle the different aspects of mental health.
In relation to the show’s title, The STAR asked the actors, the director, and the creative producer, “When is it okay not to be okay and when is it not okay to be not okay?”
“What I can say is, every emotion is valid so whatever it is that you feel or (you’re) going through, that is valid,” replied Carlo.
Anne chimed in, “Everyone has the right to not be okay regardless of time, place. If you are not doing well, instead of keeping it in, it’s okay to acknowledge that you’re not okay. And I thank you.”
Direk Mae replied, “I think in general naman it’s okay to not be okay. And it is not okay to be not okay, it’s kinda confusing, but you get my drift. Kasi parang feeling ko like what Anne said, you have to allow yourself to feel it because if you suppress it, it’s all just gonna be bottled up inside so it’s always okay to not be okay. And you have to recognize it. I thank you, too.”
“I’d like to answer the when is it not okay to not be okay,” said Henry. “Actually, when you hurt yourself, then it’s not okay to be not okay. After the pandemic, then the shutdown of ABS-CBN, right now, that’s why this project is close to me because I’m undergoing medication up to now. Kaya malapit sa akin ‘tong project na ‘to, sa puso ko.”
Anne added, “Another good one is probably when you see someone going through something, and you’re okay with it. That’s when it’s not okay to be okay. If you see someone going through something, you lend out your hand.”
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