Twisted
Jane Oineza and McCoy de Leon are in a project bound to give viewers adrenaline rush as the spine-tingling story unravels.
Jane Oineza and McCoy de Leon are in a project bound to give viewers adrenaline rush as the spine-tingling story unravels.
Apsychological thriller about a strange teenage couple and a documentary journalist gives the chills in “Project Feb. 14.”
Meant as a Valentine presentation, director Jason Paul Laxamana threw in death and mental health issues into the pot to stew something thought-provoking, if not potentially controversial.
Produced by Dreamscape Digital, the six-part series follows the story of couple Annie (Jane Oineza) and Brix (McCoy de Leon). As they plan to do something shocking on Valentine’s Day and broadcast it online, they meet a documentarist named Cody (JC Santos) who offers to record the attempt.
Jason Paul hopes to raise awareness on mental health issues through the series. He expects to face criticisms over the unconventional plot.
“Just to be clear, we’re not trying to inspire people here (to follow what the characters did in the story). I don’t want to be preachy about mental health issues because I myself am not aware how can it be solved,” he said.
“Our goal is for the work to be an eye-opener. I guess the solution we have here is that we should always be kind, be there for each other no matter what.”
Sexy firsts
Despite the heavy theme, Jane and McCoy accepted the project right away.
“This is a serious issue. The purpose of this project is to let the viewers know, ‘Ah there’s an illness like this, I should be aware of this,” she said. Bulletin Entertainment was among those who attended the advance screening of the series. Many noticed the steamy, daring scenes the young stars did – numerous kissing scenes here and there.
How did they prepare for those, we asked.
“When the project was offered to us, we knew right there and then that it was going to be difficult, challenging to do,” she said. “But we’re actors and we have to do what is required of us.”
“This is the first time we did such scenes but there were no hesitations on our part because it’s just a job,” McCoy added.
Since he did topless scenes, McCoy revealed he went on a diet. That is, he did not eat dinner for a time until he achieved slimmer figure.
This is the first time the two are paired in a project. Jane described McCoy as “very gentlemanly.”
“I feel lucky that he is my co-star here. He took care of me. I trusted him and he didn’t break that trust. As they said, ‘Walang ilangan.’ I hope to work with him again in the future,” she said.
“Project Feb. 14” is now available for streaming on ABS-CBN’s streaming service iWant.
Shake it off
Despite the darkness of the character she plays on “Project Feb. 14,” Jane did not have a hard time shaking the character off her system every time the director shouts, “It’s a wrap!”
“I don’t stick to the character because I know it’s just work, that I am not what I am portraying,” she said.
Of course, before shooting takes place, Jane already knows the bad circumstances her character will get into so that helps.
“As an actress, I like materials which are very heavy in content. I trust director Jason Paul and Dreamscape Digital. I am very grateful that I was given this opportunity to work on a project like this.”
Jane even went on to say she thoroughly enjoyed the whole process.
“I’m game with anything,” she said. “I accepted it even though I know it has a very sensitive theme because I want to be part of a project which can be an eye-opener to people.”