It was just another episode of the Ang Walang Kwentang Podcast hosted by filmmakers and longtime friends JP Habac and Antoinette Jadaone that prompted the idea for the long-awaited reunion movie of Marvin Agustin and Jolina Magdangal, the popular ‘90s reel pair who were last seen together in the 2008 romantic comedy I.T.A.L.Y. (I Trust And I Love You).
The hosts were trying to come up with a list of 23 things they want for 2023. “Sinabi ko dun na ang isa sa mga gusto ko sanang mangyari for 2023 ay magkaroon ng Marvin-Jolina reunion film,” says Habac. (One of the things I wanted for 2023 was a Marvin-Jolina reunion film, I said there.)
By January 19, 2023, exactly two days after that conversation, Jadaone texted Habac, asking him to steer the comeback film. “As a fairy godmother ko si Tonet sa mga panahong iyon. And the rest is history!” (Tonet was my fairy godmother at the time.)
The project also marks Jadaone and Habac’s first film collaboration. “It is Tonet who always reminds me that I can do comedy, that I can make people experience kilig (romantic giddiness) while making them laugh.”
The story that would become Ex Ex Lovers, though, had to cycle through several iterations, from romantic drama to sexier plotlines. In fact, the movie has been in the pipeline of Project 8 Projects, Jadaone and Dan Villegas’ production company, since 2018, but delays were inevitable due partly to the global pandemic.
When Habac got on board, he was reminded of the “Marvin-Jolina brand of story, kilig, and comedy.” After that, he committed to revisiting past works of the onscreen couple, the likes of Flames: The Movie (1997), Labs Kita… Okey Ka Lang? (1998), and Hey Babe! (1999), to shape and sharpen the material with Jadaone and Kristine Gabriel serving as screenwriters.
Out in local theaters on February 12, Ex Ex Lovers takes its protagonist Joy (Magdangal) to Valletta, Malta to convince her estranged husband Ced (Agustin) to come home and press him to make their daughter SC (Loisa Andalio) realize that she’s still too young to wed her unassertive boyfriend Joey (Juan Karlos Labajo).
The film also reunites Magdangal and Agustin with their Gimik co-stars Judy Ann Santos, Mylene Dizon, G Töengi, and Dominic Ochoa.
Pressure was the least of Habac’s worries coming into the project. “I only felt excitement and joy,” he says. “Apart from the fact that I haven’t directed a rom-com film for so long, I’m a solid fan of Marvin and Jolina.”
But after a look test with his actors, it finally dawned on the director how huge the project was. That was when he felt fear and anxiety. “I guess that’s the joy of this craft, you’ll never be familiar with it. It will always surprise you to let you revisit why you love the work that you do.”
Habac also notes how collaborating with Magdangal and Agustin turned out so smoothly. “Sobrang dali ng trabaho ko bilang isang director dahil magaling na collaborators silang dalawa. Kapag nagbibigay ako ng direction sa kanila, hindi lang nila sinusunod, dinadagdagan pa nila,” he tells me. (It was very easy to work with them. When I give directions, they add something to it.)
Pre-production kicked off around the second quarter of 2023 with an ocular visit in Malta, a significant setting in the movie. Filming began six months later, shooting the Malta leg in December that year and wrapping up the whole production just a month ago.
As someone who has a penchant for traveling and touring sights, Habac says Malta is a dream destination. “Kita at ramdam sa Malta ang pagpapahalaga nila sa past at history nila na to be honest ay nakakainggit.” (You can see and feel in Malta how the two actors value their past and history. It’s something to be envious of.)
It then became a challenge for the production team to incorporate Malta’s culture and beauty not only as a shooting location but a pivotal feature in the film’s storyline. The Philippine crew was also able to collaborate with Maltese film workers, some of whom had already worked on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II and the sports drama Ted Lasso.
Of course, the nostalgia of the 1990s factors into the making of the movie, and harnessing it without making the narrative feel like a rehash of the onscreen partner’s filmography is also a question that Habac has mulled over.
“It’s been so long since we saw Marvin and Jolina exuding kilig, cry, laugh, fight with and tease each other, dance, and sing,” explains Habac. “They were still too young when we last saw them do all that. Because of that, we wanted to bring back that kind of romantic comedy, the kind that will make us laugh and feel that kilig at the same time.”
“But like the people supporting them,” the director continues, “they also age and grapple with new demands of life. We wanted to bring back the kind of romantic comedy that we’re exposed to because of Marvin and Jolina, but it’s more appropriate to their age this time and it comes with a harsher slap of reality. Because even if we’re aging, we still have the right to experience that kilig.”
Though slightly overstretched and still suffused with doses of fan service, Ex Ex Lovers functions past nostalgia and mines meaningful insights about the highs and lulls of married life, how trauma encroaches selfhood, and the temper of the Filipino family. At times, it can be awkward, foolish and funny in the way it generates a meme out of itself, and incredibly earnest — but never flat, never unexciting. It is a romantic comedy done right; Habac wills the movie into existence with a firmer sense of the genre and its emotional rhythm.
Pressed about the resurgence of romantic comedies in local cinema, Habac says such films have always been there, only awaiting its audience to pick it up again. “Especially with what is happening in the world. I think people need a brief escape from all this craziness. People need to laugh and experience kilig to carry on.”
It has been eight years since Habac debuted his first feature film I’m Drunk, I Love You and went on to direct all sorts of limited series, television ads, and music videos. What he has gleaned from that exposure, though, is how to embrace change.
“Because times change, people’s needs and wants change, and the stories they hope to watch change,” he says. – Rappler.com
Note: Some quotes in Filipino have been translated into English for brevity.
