When your love is blamed as the reason for others’ disappearances, it can be hard to find the courage to love again. For Sari (Kim Chiu), she’s been experiencing this since her childhood. After Sari’s father abandoned their family, her mother cursed her and said anyone she loved would disappear.
Now, many years later, she still has the same fear of loving, not brave enough to confront her curse. She is content seeing others fall in love around her and has decided to live life alone. However, the sudden appearance of Jolo (Paulo Avelino) throws a wrench in her plans. Determined to win her over, Jolo does his best to break down Sari’s barriers and make her fall in love with him. Will they be able to make things work, or will Jolo be just another disappearance from Sari’s life?
Previously, Asia Blooming spoke with actors Kim Chiu and Paulo Avelino about their thoughts on the film and working together. Following the March 28 U.S. theatrical release of the film, Asia Blooming also spoke with director Chad Vidanes about the film.
Vidanes has participated in a various projects and directed numerous TV series, but My Love Will Make You Disappear is his first feature film. When he got the offer to direct, he was thrilled. “Until now, everything still feels surreal, and it really means the world to me,” he began with a pensive look. “I’ve been with Star Cinema since 2015, as a production intern. I’ve witnessed how Star Cinema and the great directors I’ve worked with have brought their stories to life, and it just feels like a fantasy. It was always my dream to direct my first feature, but for the past two years, I’ve been doing limited series. When I was called about the opportunity to direct my first feature, it was just shocking. I immediately grabbed the opportunity, and I made it a point to really give everything I had to not disappoint the people who believed in me.”
On his approach to directing My Love Will Make You Disappear, he wanted to show the issues that women face in their mid 30s in today’s world. When looking back on his experience directing for TV and film, he revealed the difference was primarily in the filming schedule and pacing. “When I direct a TV series, I like to think that I try and do my best to shoot it like a film, so it was kind of a familiar experience. But, when we shot this film, I had a lot more time to go more in-depth,” he started. “We had fewer sequences to shoot per day, so I had more time to get my shots and get my actors into the emotions. I didn’t have to focus on finishing my shooting schedule for the day. I think that was a major change in experience, but in terms of how I prepped and how I mounted my scenes, I’d like to think I approached it in the same way.”
Vidanes joined the film as director after Kim Chiu and Paulo Avelino were cast as the leads. While he didn’t play a role in their casting, he was already familiar with the pair, having worked with them on the TV series, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? However, there were some small difficulties that stemmed from the pair’s history working together. “We have this saying in the Philippines called kalás. It’s like how you detach from a character you played before to portray a new character, and we kind of experienced that,” he admitted. “It was just like a year, the gap in between the series and when we shot our film. There were times on set that I saw nuances Kim and Paulo brought from their previous characters. In that situation, I would slowly point that out to them. Sometimes, it was hard for them to detach from their previous characters, especially since it was the three of us again in this project.”
Despite these small occasional hiccups, the team worked together well for the project overall, especially with Vidanes’ approach to his work. “I like to think of myself as a director for actors,” he shared. “I love to collaborate with my actors to get them more into their characters, so I always make it a point to sit down with them and explain the characters and the world I built around them. I go through even the smallest details with them. For example, we would discuss how Sari would react to different scenarios. How would she live in this world? What would she be like in the morning? What time does she wake up? What would be the first thing she does? What kind of transportation does she use to go to work, and what’s the route she takes?” He continued, “I’d like to think we three went into the detailed aspects of their characters, so it would help them embody the characters more. Not just for the actors to know about them, but to really understand them and to really, really put themselves in their characters’ shoes.”
Director Vidanes shared his favorite memory from the set: “When we were shooting the first kiss in the rain, that was a very challenging shoot, but it was also my favorite.” He continued, “It was late afternoon, so we were trying our best to not run out of daylight. But, while we were shooting it, the emotions during that time were overflowing. Everyone on set was just blown away with the characters, especially when Kim portrayed Sari’s first feeling when she saw that Jolo didn’t disappear. Kim really, really felt that bond with Sari, and how she deserved this kind of happiness. This was a moment I’d never forget.”
