Best friends play best friends
Liyana Jasmay and Juliana Evans talk about their friendship and working on set together for the movie Bella & Jamie. Syahirah Mokhtazar writes
IT’S been more than 10 years since actresses Che Puan Juliana Evans and Liyana Jasmay last met — on the set of Kami The Series. It told of the journey of a group of five friends. Since that time, those days of rocking indie fashion onscreen in Kami, fans have witnessed the two women blosthe som into artistes they are today. True friends are hard to find, that’s why Juliana and Liyana say they are lucky to have each other during good times, and bad. Thus, when Liyana decided to produce a film about the friendship between two best friends, she called upon Juliana to join the cast.
BELLA & JAMIE
Aptly titled Bella & Jamie, the movie is a lighthearted story that centres on friends Bella and Jamie, who are about to become stepsisters as Jamie’s (Liyana) father (Khir Rahman) intends to marry Bella’s mother. But things quickly turn sour. Jamie discovers that Bella is secretly dating her ex-boyfriend, breaking the girl code despite, knowing that it’s a big no-no to date your friend’s former flame. Feeloutraged ing and betrayed, Jamie does what modern girl would do to get even — she takes to social media to publicly shame her best friend by revealingher ugly side.
Of course, this leads to a war between the two. Becoming sisters is the last thing they want at this point. So they team up to execute a plan to sabotage their parents’ relationship in the hopes that the wedding will not take place.
This plot of the lighthearted romantic comedy feels familiar to the plots of iconic teen movies from the West that have starred Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
Liyana doesn’t deny she was inspired by the popular TV series Lizzie McGuire, the teen sitcom with Hilary Duff as lead. Those familiar with Lizzie McGuire will remember the animated alter ego of Lizzie’s character. In this film, Bella has her own version of an animated alter ego. “I grew up watching almost every teen sitcom and movie, and that prompted me to produce one of my own,” she said.
OBSTACLES
Despite the straightforward storyline that gets a little far-fetched at times, the film is refreshing compared with the typical Malay dramas where the rich fall in love with the poor. Or when a relationship is sabotaged by a third person.
Produced by Mermaid Studios Sdn Bhd, Bella & Jamie was filmed at the end of 2015. But due to budget constraints and internal factors that couldn’t be avoided, the film didn’t make its way to the big screens sooner.
“The post-production was extremely costly, so things were delayed for awhile as we needed to collect funds. But thankfully, my friend Razlam Shah Rashid owns his own post-production company, so he helped a lot,”said Liyana. “Then we had trouble finding a film distributor. But thankfully, although it is long overdue, this film has finally made it to the cinemas.”
She added that the entire film cost RM600,000.
TRUE FRIENDS
“When you work with friends on set, it doesn’t feel like work at all,” said Juliana. Although the film was shot three years ago, the events are still fresh in her mind. “She’s (Liyana) just a ball of fun and lights up the room with her fun personality. As a producer she knows what she wants so it made filming a breeze.”
Even though their onscreen characters experience a fallout in the movie, Juliana said off screen, this wasn’t so. “Of course, arguments are inevitable every now and then but I know that she has my best interest at heart”, explained Juliana. “There’s no backstabbing in this friendship for sure! Although we are both married now and don’t see each other as often as we’d like, but that doesn’t change anything — we always just pick up right where we left off. I always go to her for advice and it’s likewise for her. I hope it will stay that way forever.”
Directed by Ghaz Abu Bakar, the film also stars Khir Rahman, Dynas Mokhtar, Izzue Islam and Bell Ngasri. “It may be a lighthearted story about friendship, but the story also delivers themes on love and family,” said Liyana.
Bella & Jamie is showing in cinemas nationwide.
When you work with friends on set, it doesn’t feel like work at all.
Juliana Evans