“It was a very nice experience. Working with young talents is already inspiring and Genius Teens have a lot of young talents. We started shooting (the film) few months before the pandemic. That was the biggest problem of the project, we were forced to stop for several months. And to resume a project like this was really hard. But aside from that, my experience was very good,” shares director Paolo Bertola.
Originally, Genius Teens was created as a series with six episodes for its first season that features local and international character actors. Its setting is in Hunter Valley, Cabanatuan City.
It had auditioned by almost 500 teens, kids, and adults in Makati office of Utmost Creatives, and chosen 21 good-looking and talented teen actors, four kid actors, and 26 adults filled in the characters of Season One, which has a movie version of Chapter One: Heroes and Villains and Chapter Two: Dark Encounters. The movie is a sci-fi, action-fantasy that tackles how humans protect the earth that we call home. It showcases humanity, the country’s beautiful faces, culture, family values, education, and how each teen character becomes a hero by discovering their ability and power from being a normal person as they exceed the capacity of their brain.
Check out the cast below:
Kimchloie Oquendo as Needle, Carmen Del Rosario as Ursula, Melissa Arcaya as Toxic, Marian San Luis as Black Dahlia, Angelica Bertola as Seer, Ysabella Orandain as Supernova, Erica Corpuz as Greenthumb, Santino Oquendo as Young Jester, Dennah Bautista as Sam, Scarlett Pillega as Ojibwe, Cassie Kim as Glitch, Jhassy Busran as Xerox, Ivan Orville as Leechman, Boy Laguipo as Jester, Harvey Almoneda as Falcon, Ernest Beaver Magtalas as Hopper, Angel Laco as Lakota, Denise Macaraeg as Dagger, Princess Lucas as Hollow, Arriane Butch as Beast, Miel Gomez as Cavalan, Host: CJ Reyes, Sean Guyamin as Dart, Alfred Mendoza as Speed, Steve Berasis as Caretaker, Bamboo Bobadilla as Laser, Jil Demski as Atmos and Opheng Arola as Apprentice.
But what makes Genius Teens different from the superhero movies we have today?
“Aside from all the main characters are teenagers, I think the story. It doesn’t have one story like a traditional movie but a lot of stories mixed, blended together. And each story is related to each character. Some things are inspired by manga, Japanese style. This is, I think is interesting,” answers director Bertola.
Despite the pandemic and locked-in shoots the movie had its premiere night at SM Megamall Cinema 10, on June 25, Saturday. The two-part film will be streaming worldwide on www.ktx.ph, starting July 15, Wednesday.
Watch our interview with director Paolo Bertola below: