From making viewers swoon in romantic series to trying to keep a straight face on a horror-comedy set, Wilbert Ross and Bea Binene, collectively known as the WilBea love team, are taking their partnership in a new direction with “Pee Mak.”
The film is the Philippine adaptation of the 2013 Thai hit “Pee Mak,” which starred Mario Maurer and Davika Hoorne. It marks Ross and Binene’s first movie together following their work in Viva One’s romantic series “Golden Scenery of Tomorrow” and “Love U Lots.” This time, the pair step away from the familiar rom-com setup to play a married couple.
For Ross, the change in genre gave him more room to explore comedy, something he has long wanted to do. He said he frequently approached director Victor Villanueva with ideas for scenes and found ways to add his own comedic touches to the character.
“I think as a writer, I have ideas so I suggest that we can amplify the comedic scene because we all have different visions of how to attack it,” Ross said during the film’s media conference.
The actor said the creative process involved the entire cast, with each performer bringing a different comedic style and timing to the scenes.
“It has so much Pinoy humor. You wouldn’t even know what year we made the movie because it is so mixed up. There is no timeline. There are millennial references and all. That is part of the humor,” he added.
Villanueva, who worked with Ross and Binene on previous Viva One projects, also saw “Pee Mak” as an opportunity to present the love team differently rather than repeat their romantic-series dynamic.
“In ‘Love U Lots,’ the tone is very rom-com. Here in ‘Pee Mak,’ since it is being screened, the small elements and nuances are more magnified. I wanted them to feel more cinematic and bigger than life,” Villanueva said.
In “Pee Mak,” Mak and Pee-Nang (Ross and Binene) are married and have a child, giving their relationship a different emotional foundation. Ross said their relationship remains part of the story but is not the sole focus.
“The thing about this project is, it is not purely about us. The friends have more running time so, the movie does not revolve around us,” Ross said.
“Mak is not that complicated so I amplified his loving side, his yearning, and even in our heavy scenes, I tried to amplify the pain that the viewers would feel,” he said.
For Binene, meanwhile, one of the biggest challenges was not the horror but keeping herself from laughing while working with her co-stars.
“I had a scene where I was in a harness, upside down, but that was nothing compared to having to hold back my laughter,” she said.
Binene said what made the cast special was that everyone would brainstorm before scenes.
“They were all very involved with the project, with every scene. Everyone pitched in,” she said.
Produced by Viva Films, “Pee Mak” opens in cinemas nationwide on Oct. 14.