Call My Manager to honor Philippine cinema, showbiz

CELEBRITY EGOS, industry politics, and personal ambitions fuel the cutthroat world of show business, which is the center of the Filipino series Call My Manager.

Directed by Erik Matti, it is adapted from the original French show Call My Agent for HBO, though the release date has yet to be announced. Eight episodes had been filmed back in 2023.

In the meantime, the first two episodes, edited into a two-hour movie, premiered in QCinema on Nov. 15. It stars Judy Ann Santos, Edu Manzano, and RK Bagatsing as the three managers that run Shine Artist Management, with recurring roles and cameos from big-name celebrities and references to real-life insider showbiz gossip filling the story.

For Mr. Matti, the project has been a long time coming.

“After the success of On the Job on HBO, the next question they asked was, what else do you guys want to do?” he said at the talkback after the premiere. “We’ve always wanted to do a tribute to Philippine cinema and show business, but everyone’s been saying it won’t make money because it’s really for insiders.”

“When we discovered Call My Agent, we felt that the Philippines could do our own version, bringing in everything we know about cinema and showbiz, so that it’s a love letter and at the same time a critique of the industry we’re in,” he added.

As producer, Dondon Monteverde knew that the series would be “the perfect vehicle to showcase the industry.”

“This is an industry that I know very well. I grew up with some of the stars we got for this, like Niño Muhlach, our comeback kid,” he explained. “Pinipilit pa ako ni Mother [Lily Monteverde] mag-artista noon pero hindi bagay. Producer na lang. (Mother Lily was trying to force me to be an actor at the time, but it didn’t suit me. So I became a producer).”

He noted that the Mother Lily character will encounter some conflicts which are borrowed from real incidents. “She was still alive when we filmed this, so Erik [Matti] was able to study her mannerisms and how she deals with people. She was very hands-on,” he said.

Some stars that come up in the story, playing themselves, are Maricel Soriano, Snookie Serna, Kiray Celis, and Janine Gutierrez. Music is by Rico Blanco, and many episodes are directed by Mario Cornejo and Jade Castro.

Appearing in minor roles are real-life entertainment company executives like Roselle Monteverde of Regal Entertainment and Vincent Del Rosario of Viva Communications — Mr. Matti said it took “a bit of convincing” to get them to join in.

He added that each episode tackles many different celebrity stories. “The reason the cast is so large is so that we can insert many subplots, which bicycle around per episode,” he explained. “This is a romanticized look at show business that we have now, and we ushered into the story the online element, which is not in the French version, while also harkening back to what we love about Philippine cinema.”

Mr. Monteverde noted that Call My Manager will show “things that actually happen in showbiz, from stage mothers to scandals.”

For Mr. Matti, because the French material has been adapted so many times in other countries, like the UK, South Korea, and India, their goal was to make it as Filipino as possible.

“We wanted this to be unique, an adaptation that you can tell comes from the Philippines. You will see more country-specific topics later on, with guests like Laurice Guillen, Lav Diaz, Monsour Del Rosario, and the mother-daughter duo of Zsa Zsa Padilla and Karylle,” he explained.

“When you see the stories, you’ll know who we’re talking about.”

The first two episodes of Call My Manager will be screened once more at the French Film Festival on Nov. 28, at SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. HBO has yet to announce when the full, eight-episode series will be streamed on the platform. — Brontë H. Lacsamana