Xian Lim thanks GMA, Viva for giving him 'out-of-the-box' characters

MANILA, Philippines — Among Xian Lim's first TV assignment in GMA in 2022 was as a husband who got pregnant on "False Positive."

This year, he's starring in another "out-of-the-box" character for the GMA Pictures and Viva Films movie "Playtime," and these projects make him thankful for the network and studio outfits for giving him varied roles in the span of his over a decade of career in showbiz. 

"It feels really great because paulit-ulit akong magpapasalamat sa GMA and sa Viva because they always, ever since nagsimula po akong gumawa ng proyekto sa kanila, they've been giving me projects that are 'out-of-the-box.' 

"From nabuntis na lalaki to a killer who's haunting these women, to films that I've never done before," said the actor. 

Xian led his co-stars in answering the press with their questions regarding his suspense thriller "Playtime." 

In the upcoming film set to release on June 12, Xian plays Lucas, a man who lures women and hunts them down while being trapped with him in the forest. 

The women are played by Sanya Lopez, Faye Lorenzo and Coleen Garcia. 

"I feel very grateful and I feel very blessed na nabigyan po ako ng pagkakataon to portray something out of the box, something like this, I would say, daring. Kasi hindi naman po lahat nabibigyan ng pagkakataon," he added. 

Xian said that he and his co-stars put their faith on their director, Mark Reyes V. 

Reyes said the film had been at the back of his head for many years since he was in high school or college when he came across the work of Richard Connell titled "The Most Dangerous Game." It was a short story published in 1924 and adapted into movies and series. 

"I was in high school, I think college that stuck to me. Simple story was there is this hunter whose hobby is to hunt animals. He got bored because he can outwit animals so what he did was he started hunting down humans because they have intelligence. That stuck to me all these years. I said that if I would do a thriller, that would be the impetus of the story that I would want to do," Reyes shared. 

Reyes said that his upcoming movie produced by GMA Pictures and Viva Films is a sort of a homecoming, since his first major break was "TGIS," produced by Viva and shown on GMA-7 as a weekend youth-oriented show back in the late 1990s. 

The director said the film is a collaborative effort, with his four stars contributing their insights in his concept and with script by Noreen Capili and Dustin Celestino. 

"Dapat kasama ang apat na ito for writing credits [referring to the lead stars]. It was a very collaborative film. It expanded to that," the director added. — Video by Kathleen A. Llemit, editing by Anjilica Andaya

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