“The difference with the BLs (boys’ love) I know is.. Mostly, ‘yung mga BLs na alam natin ngayon, mga masculine, and this is something I’m very proud of, this film, that dito tinataas natin ang dangal ng mga effeminate, na dinadagdagan natin ang dignidad ng komunidad natin kasi hindi kahinaan ang pagiging effeminate. So that’s what I’m very proud of this film.” – Adrian Lindayag, star of the first BL movie ‘The Boy Foretold by the Stars.’
The boys’ love movie was announced earlier this year as part of the CineFilipino International Film Festival but due to the ongoing pandemic and the rise of boys’ love content in the Philippines, the production felt like delaying this along with the film festival would not be a smart movie. So, they’ve decided to buy the rights of the film and maybe pass it to a film festival or sell it to a streaming service now when everyone has time and is crazy about boys’ love contents.
The film stars Adrian Lindayag (Kadenang Ginto, Oh My Dad!) and Keann Johnson (Santigwar) and directed by Dolly Dulu, associate and line producer of acclaimed films like Mercury is Mine, Bakwit Boys and To Love Some Buddy.
Love of Siam: The BL movie that started it all
When Adrian Lindayag auditioned for the movie, director Dolly Dulu told him that the inspiration of the movie is the Thai boys’ love movie ‘Love of Siam’ starring Mario Maurer and Witwisit Hiranyawongkul. Same as Adrian, I think this was my introduction to BL or boys’ love, and I loved it!
Adrian shared how that movie showed him a new perspective in films, “kasi ‘diba, to be able to watch two guys fall in love with each other is such a foreign thing, especially here in the Philippines. Meron bang pelikulang gano’n? At kung meron man, siguro sa mga festivals lang natin nakikita or sa mga indie, or as a joke sa mainstream media.
Keann on the other hand didn’t know much about BL until it gained a wider audience last year. “Sobrang flavorful ng relationship especially if guy on guy and kinilig ako sobra. Actually, to be honest I watched 5 BL movies/series, and gano’n din, pinaka-favorite ko among them in Love of Siam. There’s really not much of a difference between that kind of relationship kesa sa mga heterosexual type of relationships, it just matters on the story and I can tell na mas nagda-dive in deeply and BL kesa sa mga typical romantics na nakikita natin araw araw, it dives in to a deeper topic than what we usually see,” Keann on sharing his thoughts on the BL movies and series he’s seen.
Watch our interviews of Adrian Lindayag, Keann Johnson and director Dolly Dulu during our virtual bloggers’ conference below: